Aoi Youkai
by teddybearwithwings
Summary: This sequel to Camp Times Two is the last pt of this trilogy, about the Generation 2. Enter two orphans, kids of Tara, Lara and Kara's fourth cousins, and all hell breaks loose. *I'M BEGGING!! R+R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*
1. Every morning is the dawn of a new error

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Thinking (.) - My daft self . - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
Hi all! Welcome to my new ficcie. And yes, I know a lot of pple like using requiem as a title, I mean, I've already seen several, but heck, who cares huh? Enjoy the show!  
  
Yes, I'm made some adjustments.  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Prologue: Requiem*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
After quite a while of thought, they then set up a school of magic, to train those young sorcerers to do great things.  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
*Sometime in June 2018*  
  
They ran through the winding tunnels, hoping they weren't too late, Syaoran and his two kids, Aoi and Tsuki (Hahaz. Did you know tt Aoi Tsuki is sometimes used to represent love?).  
  
Tenji had captured Sakura and he was just about to take her power as the Clow Mistress. They ran and ran, and saw her up ahead, floating in midair, held up by her own aura, still somewhat conscious. Tenji and his wife, Chidori (is that her name? I can't remember liaoz) and a small girl and boy, the same age as Aoi and Tsuki, was by the side, waiting for a potion to finish brewing. They started sprinting, but banged into a force-shield. They tried spells, incantations, but none worked. Giving up hope, Syaoran slumped against the fore-shield, tears starting to streak his face.  
  
"Pull yourself together man!" They heard Xi Lang's voice.  
  
They turned and saw the three couples running. Kara gave him a reassuring smile, "Don't worry. It'll turn out alright."  
  
The three sisters pressed their palms against the force-shield and Lara reached out to Sakura inside, "Sakura, choose an heir! Now!"  
  
Blur as always, "Huh?"  
  
"Hayaku!"  
  
"Aoi."  
  
Kara on the other side of the shield reached her hand out to Aoi, nodding gravely. He took it, and she asked, "Staff like your mom, or sword like Syaoran?"  
  
He shuddered at the thought of having to run around with a pink stick and said, almost immediately, "Sword."  
  
The sisters started chanting, as Aoi felt the magic fill him. At the same time, the aura holding Sakura up and the force shield was weakening. As the magic was completely passed over, Sakura dropped to the ground, unconscious. Syaoran tried to run through the shield, but Xi Ling held him back, "The shield is still up. We could only pass over her power as the Card Mistress, but she still has a little magic left, and that is what's still in the shield."  
  
The sisters continued chanting, until a small hole was formed. Xi Ling closed his eyes for a while and the Cards, now blue, came shooting out of the pocket Tomoyo gave Sakura and into Aoi's hand, who drew a single card from the deck, tapped it, said, "Through, come to my aid!"  
  
He ran through the shield towards Tenji, whose face was filled with shocked realisation, and slew him. His wife and kids rushed to him crying, and Aoi rushed to his mother. The sisters, by now, had completely eliminated the shield, and Syaoran ran in to pick her up.  
  
*Meanwhile further down south*  
  
All around, sirens; stares. Why did they have to have such a damn huge minibus? Why not just a normal car like everyone else? Why were she and her brother sitting right at the back in the first place? Why the hell weren't they like their parents? NORMAL? All they were trying to do was go on a normal holiday, during the June school holidays. They had even decided to 'rough it' and go business class instead of first class. But why? Why did they have to be the ones who were crushed by a drunk trainee bus driver? Why? WHY?  
  
"Terrance, you better get over here. I have a strange feeling you'll be needed. It's almost like that accident you handled last year. Mini-bus, teens, freak accident - anyway, just get over here."  
  
"Right." The officer pressed a button on his mobile and started his car.  
  
At the accident site, it was a tall blonde boy answering the questions from both police officers and reporters, while his sister just sat there, staring at the wreck that she was sitting in just less than an hour ago. The reporters had finally got it through their thick heads NOT to ask her anything only after she thrown one with amazing strength at one of the police cars.  
  
Terrance looked over at the girl. There was something familiar about her. But where had he seen her before? Waitaminute. The hair. That shade of red. Could it be?  
  
The officer the boy was talking to noticed his colleague's arrival, "Hey Terrance."  
  
Her head jerked up at the name. She turned her tear-stained face towards him. "Aya?"  
  
*Flashback*  
  
"Yeah, I'm on it."  
  
Another accident. This time, it was a school bus full of secondary school kids and some drunkard going home at six a.m. Apparently, it was one of the kids who had called in to report it.  
  
He got there, and immediately noticed a red-haired girl staring blankly at the wreck while medics loaded the drunkard, her schoolmates and the bus driver into ambulances. Her bag slumped next to her, and strangely enough, like her, was completely unharmed. She was obviously ignoring his colleague's questions.  
  
One of his fellow officers walked over to him, "Hey. It's your turn now. All of us have tried, but she's still quiet."  
  
"So, push everything to the new guy who's just joined the force huh?"  
  
"Well, like it or not, someone's GOT to get the job done, and you're the youngest of us (He went to the police academy immediately after Sec school which means he's now 18. I don't know if they allow pple into the police academy so early, but they do in 15 yrs, k?), closest to her age, thought you might work. Weird, though. There's absolutely nothing wrong with her except exhaustion. And the rest of them suffer near fatal injuries. Apparently, according to witnesses, there was an explosion and she just seemed to be thrown out of it, and landed on her feet. After that, she was the one who pulled everyone out and called us."  
  
Terrance just shrugged and walked up to the girl, "All right there?"  
  
Silence for a while then the shocker, "Terrance right?"  
  
"How-"  
  
"Don't ask. Just don't"  
  
"Okay, I won't. Not about that anyway. I never really was good at intros. So, since we all know about me, why don't we talk about you?" He sat down next to her.  
  
"Aren't you gonna ask me about what happened?"  
  
He grinned sheepishly, running a hand through his hair, "Well, yes but we were told to 'always try the basic procedure', which would be not to ask outright, but to do what I think is beating around the bush and not getting you anywhere."  
  
His tone made her laugh her melodious laugh, "Well, I for one am glad that there's at least ONE decent officer around. Those bastards had just started threatening. Ha. Like I'M gonna be scared of them."  
  
"Mind your language, young lady." He said in a mocking tone, then became serious again, "So, why wouldn't you be scared?"  
  
"The same reason as why I knew your name."  
  
"So don't ask, huh?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"So can I ask about the accident?"  
  
"Go ahead. What do you wanna know?"  
  
"As much as you can tell me."  
  
"Ok."  
  
She went on to talk and after a while Terrance was told to bring her to school, after her reported to his superiors what she had told him, which, to their surprise, was quite a lot.  
  
At school, things were explained to her teachers and she started her lessons as normal.  
  
*Time skip*  
  
She had given in to one of her friend's, well, not exactly friend, more like a girl she'd met in one of those enrichment classes she enrolled in, pestering and told her the full story, about her powers, everything. A while later, people started either peppering her with questions or avoiding her, giving her weird looks. She was smart enough to know what happened. She grabbed a guy she knew was the girl's classmate by the collar, lifting him off his feet (she's tall, as in 174cm tall, as opposed to his 150++ centimetres) and asked, with a cold threatening edge to her tone, "Where. Is. She?"  
  
He was trembling by then and pointed to the nearest girls' toilet. She dumped him unceremoniously onto the floor and stormed to the toilet. She kicked open the cubicle door, revealing a girl shaking in fear. She stood there, and in a deadly whisper, "You told them. You revealed the secret I entrusted to you. And you will pay."  
  
The tears by now had started flowing and the crowd outside had gathered. She hooked two fingers under the girl's collar and flipped her against the mirrors, which broke, letting her fall headfirst onto the sinks then onto the floor. She stormed out of the toilet, stretching out her palm as she passed her classroom, summoning her stuff to her. She then paused mid- stride, thinking, 'They still know.'  
  
She stretched out her left palm and a scroll materialized above it. She grabbed it and opened it up in the air. She took out her trusty brush and started writing, and as the last character appeared, the words started glowing and there was a bright flash. Then, nobody remembered.  
  
She ran out of the school, her bag in tow, as the tears started flowing. She ran and ran until she got to the bus stop, collapsed on the bench and sobbed into her bag, allowing her long red hair to cascade down her back.  
  
Terrance just happened to be off that day and returning home from his mother's flat in Tanjong Rhu. He then spotted the familiar shade of red and stopped his car at the bus stop. "Aya?"  
  
She looked up at the familiar voice and bolted into his arms, sobbing harder than ever before screaming, "She told, she told!"  
  
This, he knew, was a girl who prized friendship and trust above all else, and listened to the story as he took her home.  
  
*End flashback*  
  
She saw her friend get out of his car and bolted, once again, into his arms and started sobbing like there was no tomorrow.  
  
His colleagues smirked and he glared, "Shut it."  
  
"Yes, oh great one. You know her, huh?"  
  
"Yeah," he looked down at the girl soaking his shirt in tears, "Same one as last year."  
  
"Hmm. You were the only one who could get through to her, weren't you?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Poor girl lost her parents this time."  
  
"She did?" He ran a hand through her silky hair, trying to comfort her.  
  
"Yup. There's her twin brother, over there. The blondie. As far as we know, the only family she has left."  
  
But he wasn't the only family she had left. In their parents' wills, they were instructed to live in Japan with their mother's second cousins, and Terrance was forced to part with the girl he'd grown to regard as a sister.  
  
There, that was nice. Could you make sense out of it? You'll have to read the rest of it to do so. Chappie 1 is coming up soon. I hope. :-P Bye! 


	2. The chickens are coming! The chickens ar...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (e.g. ^Japanese^ means that all dialogue after that is in Jap until I change the language or there's something I write there that is NOT in Jap, like if I write han yu pin yin after ^Japanese^, that bit or romaji after ^English^, that bit is Jap, capish?) (.) - My daft self . - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
I know a lot of pple are from dif countries and dif school systems, etc. seem whack to you, so I'll explain things for you. Firstly, this starts off in the year 2019, where Gen 2 (all born when Gen 1 was 20 yrs old) is 14 yrs old. I am assuming that from now (2003) to then, there has been a socio- cultural (assuming what I think it means IS what it means) standstill and all currencies are absolutely equal to remove the confusion (though now, 100 yen is still our equivalent of a dollar). Then (in this story at least), one of the underground volcanoes off the coast of Tokyo has erupted, and the volcanic ash has solidified to form a new island, which Li Association bought over from the government and moved the school there and the Li Ass. HQ to somewhere in Tokyo near the place where they set up a cable car/ferry service to get from the mainland to Seishiro (what they named the island). Now, for the school thingy. Since they are private, the hols/terms/etc. are slightly dif. School is from Jan to May and Sep to Nov. Hols are Jun to Aug and Dec. Some countries are primary, then secondary, then JC, and so on, and others are elementary, junior high, then junior high, or others may be different, so, we'll standardise this a bit. Here, it's elementary, junior high, then high school, then uni. Singapore is still pri, sec, jc, uni, k? In this fic, school starts half a year before Singaporean students of the same level. Got, me? Good. Now let's get started.  
  
By the way, I changed my mind, new name list: Akizuki Tetsuya, Chen Kei, Chen Ken, Chen Yuki, Chen Yumi, Harada Hoshi, Hiiragizawa Elle, Lee Qiu Aki, Lee Yao Aya, Li Aoi, Li Tsuki, Masuda Yong Li, Tajiri Ryo, Yamazaki Sen  
  
P.S. More notes: before people start ranting, qi = aura = life force, and I use qi more often than not cos it's easier to type  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 1: Homesick little demon*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
He ran through the shield towards Tenji, whose face was filled shocked realisation, and slew him. His wife and kids rushed to him crying, and Aoi rushed to his mother. The sisters, by now, had completely eliminated the shield, and Syaoran ran in to pick her up.  
  
~*~  
  
But he wasn't the only family she had left. In their parents' wills, they were instructed to live in Japan with their mother's second cousins, and Terrance was forced to part with the girl he'd grown to regard as a sister.  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
^Japanese^  
  
They hovered like mosquitoes around customs, waiting for a single pair of thirteen year olds (they're still thirteen. Their b day is Dec 29, i.e. MINE!) to come through. Tara, Lara and Kara's cousin's kids were recently orphaned, and in their parents' will, they were instructed to live there in Japan with their aunts. Yong Li was balancing the sign which said, "AYA and AKI LEE" on her head (vertically), obviously attracting stares, and out of a joke, when she wasn't looking, Ryo sneaked his cap in front of her, and had so far made close to 1000 yen off rich tourists.  
  
As the announcement came that the Singapore Airlines flight had landed, Yong Li, standing directly under the very LOUD speaker, was taken by such surprise, the sign almost came crashing, she tried to prevent it from crashing, and ended up losing her balance but did not go crashing. Why? Because Ryo, in a desperate attempt to save his 5120 yen from being crushed, ended up breaking her fall. He scrambled to stuff all the cash into his pockets and stick the cap back on his head, unaware that Yong Li was watching his every move.  
  
"MAKE MONEY OFF ME, WILL YOU?!!" She screeched, banging the signboard over his head repeatedly.  
  
Everyone (as in EVERYONE in the godforsaken airport) was staring at them. Except Tsuki. Her attention was diverted to inside the departure hall, at two twins, one blonde guy with purple (O_o???) eyes and one red haired girl with red eyes. There was something about them, besides the fact that she was yelling, swearing, cursing and waving the sacred finger (known to some as the ol' one-finger salute) at some fat bitch who obviously had the same bag, and he was rubbing his temples, trying to ignore the fact that she was his sister, and that they had auras. For one, her hair was quite obviously a deep red, but if you looked closely, you saw scarlet, crimson, copper, brown even. And there was something about that guy that seemed somewhat special, that she couldn't quite place her finger (or was that hand? I dunno) on.  
  
She tapped Tara on the shoulder, "Um, Tara? Is that them?"  
  
No response.  
  
Something in her snapped as quickly as when people ignored her when she wanted to know something. She stomped over to Yong Li and the now swirly eyed, disorientated Ryo, grabbed the signboard, and brought it down upon their heads as hard as she possibly could, knocking them unconscious. Silence reigned for about half a minute before she dropped the signboard and asked, as if she hadn't just knocked two of her best friends unconscious and asked, pointing to the twins in the departure hall, "Is that them?"  
  
That's when things got chaotic. Aoi, Kei, Ken, Tetsuya and Hoshi had moved Ryo and Yong Li into an unmentionable pose on the floor and were collecting 10 yen for every picture taken of the two. There were flashes everywhere and the five boys were getting VERY rich VERY fast.  
  
*In the departure hall*  
  
Aki dragged his sister away from the duty free branded chocolate shops towards the luggage collection. He picked their bags up and dropped hers in her arms, taking her by surprise and making her stagger a bit. The moment she got it onto the floor, she extended the handle, dashing towards the chocolate shop (Sins. The chocs there are great), and starting rattling off her orders (i.e. 100 pieces, in boxes of five, which would cost her about 20000 yen altogether).  
  
Suddenly, she heard a voice interrupt her excitement, "Excuse me miss, this lady over here claims that you've taken her bag by mistake."  
  
"No! She STOLE it!"  
  
Aki watched on unbothered as Aya went on to identify the time and place where she got each of the patches sewn onto the scarlet bag, "Besides," she continued, quite pissed by now, ripping open the fat bitch's bag and drawing from it a choice article of, um, clothing, "I do NOT wear split- crotch thongs, and definitely not ones which have waists that I can wrap around my hips eleven times."  
  
The fat bitch's turn, "You could have just had that in your bag!"  
  
"Oh yeah! I don't believe you could ever have had fit into THIS, even when you were barely an hour old!" She brought out one of her T-shirts.  
  
"Oh yeah? That's my, my NIECE'S. She must've, um, left it there the last time she borrowed this bag!"  
  
"Right. How well exactly do you know that" she paused for effect, "niece of yours?"  
  
"Very well. If you want dates, she bought that shirt last year in July. I was with her."  
  
"Uh huh. Then what does it say at the back."  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOTHING?!" she exploded, "I Graduated From The 2018 Sec 2 Level Camp is NOT nothing! Those ten tiny words happen to hold a VERY big place in my heart. And it is not. Nothing."  
  
"How do you expect me to remember? It was last year, for heaven's sake! And you can read the back!"  
  
She snapped, and kicked the already opened bag (not hers, the fat bitch's) against a pillar with such force, it exploded. By now, Aki was rubbing his temples trying to delay the inevitable headache. She started ranting, cursing, swearing and waving the finger at the fat bitch, and the fat bitch was swearing back. Oops. Hurricane Headache strikes again, bringing side effects along. One of which is Hurricane Harisen. He struck his sister, then the fat bitch with the fan that appeared out of nowhere. The two security officers, now VERY scared, drew their guns with shaking hands, screaming, though unheard (i.e. ignored), "Stop it! We'll shoot!"  
  
The twins looked to each other, and nodded. Aki threw the harisen (of which, like Sanzo, his has a LOT of) with amazing accuracy at one guard's head, bringing upon the unfortunate bloke unconsciousness, & Aya kicked the backs of the fat bitch's knees (fat people's knees are extremely weak after having to support so damn much weight for so damn long) and she collapsed, coincidentally one her head, knocking her out, and high kicked the remaining guard's left arm against the wall, making him drop the gun and with a VERY noticeable 'CRACK', broke the bone.  
  
They FINALLY noticed the number of people staring and the number of guards running over with loaded guns. Aki muttered, "Oh shit." Aya, on the other hand, grinned, drew a small round red glowy marble (these things, of which you will see a LOT of, are formed from her qi) placed it on her outstretched right palm, where the marble turned into a sleek black pistol (dun get mixed up with Sanzo's Smith & Wesson, which is a revolver). Her fist tightened over it, used her left hand to turn the safety off with a 'Ka-chink', "Let's rock and roll!"  
  
She aimed at one of the guard's but the bullet didn't go through. Aki had erected a purple qi shield a few inches in front of her gun, which absorbed the red qi that was in the diamond shell that had stopped at the shield and dropped to the ground. He said, "Not here." The noticed that one of the guards was about to fire, "Shield. Now."  
  
She created a sphere around them, and pouted at her brother and stuck her tongue out at him, "You're no fun. Now I'm gonna tell them that you've got a sissy purple aura."  
  
"Ugh. You just had to be MY sister, didn't you? Anyway, more work to do, erase their memories."  
  
"But there are so many damn people."  
  
"Not outside. Everyone outside is staring at some girl banging some guy over the head with a sign."  
  
"That says 'AYA and AKI LEE'."  
  
"Really? Anyway, just do it."  
  
"Ah fine." She muttered a bit and suddenly, everyone had absolutely no idea why they were the way they were.  
  
She walked to the salesgirl who had just finished with her order and paid up. Aki handed over another 10000 yen to the girl, "They need more people like you who can actually understand her ranting."  
  
She smiled, "There IS such a thing as slowing time down. You should know that."  
  
His eyes widened as he felt a flicker of a yellow aura.  
  
She winked, "I normally hide my aura when I'm outside Seishiro. I suggest you do too."  
  
"Waitaminute, You said Seishiro, right? That's the place we're going to."  
  
"Cool. I'll see you around then. Remember Maita Rei."  
  
He heard a familiar voice, "AKI~! STOP! FLIRTING!"  
  
He gave an exasperated sigh, "I'll be seeing you then." He turned around and started running, "Hai, hai! Obaa-san!" (If you want to know, "hai, hai, obaa-san is copyrighted. If I see it on ff.net, I'll start flaming, spamming, etc.)  
  
Yong Li and Ryo had come to their senses, swearing upon their dead grandparents' souls that they will beat the shit out of the five boys some day. Now, they looked, fascinated, at the twins. A common thought ran through their minds, 'did such a pair ever exist?"  
  
Ryu placed his hand on his son's shoulder, "You know Ryo, she's more like your twin than that guy's. Are you sure we didn't ship your twin off to another country? I mean she looks exactly like you. Both of you even have red eyes."  
  
"Iie, otou-san. She looks more like someone else. Sha Gojyo. Look at her, she has the same goddamned posture and attitude."  
  
The twins emerged and Aya released a quirky, "Hi!"  
  
Everyone stared at her blankly. "Oops. Japan and all that politeness stuff. You're not expecting me to bow, are you?"  
  
Aoi was the first to recover from the shock, " No. You don't have to bow. We're all on first name basis here. Hi. I'm Li Aoi." He extended his hand.  
  
"Lee Aya. Nice to meet you." She took his hand, shaking it with a smile on her face. "Nice to know I don't have to be all prissy-sissy-nancy-girl around you guys. Sheesh. I hate manners."  
  
Kara was shocked, "Where did you get that phrase?"  
  
"What phr- oh. The prissy stuff. I got it from mom."  
  
"That explains it. I'm one of your aunts."  
  
They got introductions over with, and Aya challenged Aoi to gin rummy in the car journey. At which she was beating the shit out of him.  
  
The company limos stopped them at the cable car/ferry terminal, and Aoi explained, "Only those with season passes, i.e. the residents of this place who all have magic, and VIPs who have to give a signed note and received a VIP pass are allowed on the cable car. Normal people take the ferry. The staffs here all have magic. They're mostly graduates from Hanashin, the school here. It's got the whole thing from Junior High all the way through Uni. (They got onto the cable car somewhere around here) The place is basically the school. There are the apartments, which are rented out to the students and the people working here, the rent is included in school fees for the students, most of whom are on scholarships, by the way, a small area with a café, an arcade, a small ice cream parlour, supermarket and that's about it. For serious shopping, you'll have to go back to the mainland. And then there's the different blocks for junior high, high and uni, etc. a shit big sports facility, and lastly, there's the street where all our houses are. Yours started being built the moment I shook your hands back there (he's talking to the two of them. WHAT DID YOU THINK?). We had to sap some of your brains to see what you'd like. But since I shook Aya's hand first, everything would be to her tastes. Yup. That's just about it. If you want, I'll show you around tonight."  
  
Aya smiled, "That'd be great. Ne, onii-chan?"  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"So I'll pop over tonight then."  
  
"'K."  
  
Suddenly, Aoi felt his arm tugged on and turned around to find the culprit was his own sister, Tsuki, "Let's go, lover boy."  
  
Aya laughed at the name. They went on dropping off first Tetsuya & Elle (pronounce e-lu in romaji), Yong Li, Ryu, Hoshi, Sen, Kei, Yumi & Ken and Yuki (along with their parents. I can't be bothered w/ all the names) until Kara was left with the twins, "That, is your house."  
  
Aya laughed, "For once, I have it my way. Except for the white, of course. Ne, onii-chan?"  
  
"Nani?" Came the bored reply.  
  
She smirked, "How's purple sound to you?"  
  
*WHAP* came the harisen on her head.  
  
"You don't HAVE to do that, you know."  
  
"Yes I do."  
  
Kara laughed at the twins' antics, "Don't worry Aki. Usually it's the stronger ones who have auras the same colour as their eyes. It means that their magic was actually strong enough to influence their development. Which is why I expect we, the professors at Hanashin School of Sorcery, would expect great things from you and Aya. Aoi (blue, duh), Tsuki (green), Elle (purple), Tetsuya (green), Yong Li (green), Ryu (red), Hoshi (gold), Kei (green), Yuki (blue), Ken (blue) and Yumi (red) too. Not that I'm being biased or anything, but ah well. I'll leave you guys to settle in, k? Or do you want me to stay?"  
  
Aya replied, "No thanks. We're fine."  
  
So, they were left alone in their new home. They decided that the rooms looked pretty good in white (BTW, the parquet is NOT white, k?) and they went up to decorate their own rooms.  
  
(Ok. Room description time again. When you walk into Aya's room, to your left is nothing much, there's only a big blank wall and a little further on, a desk. To your right is a LARGE walk-in closet, with sliding doors, the front most one has a mirror on it, which extends just about the width of a king-size bed. The room is 3m in height, just so as you know. Then, in that gap between the wall and the closet, is a bunk, about 2m up, King- size. The compartment is curtained and inside, you can flip out a TV from the ceiling. In the sides, there are plugs to plug in stuff for a laptop. Underneath this compartment, is the entrance to the bathroom. Instead of a door, there are, once again, curtains. The bathroom was tiled with marble. After she was done with it, the walls were still white, the flooring parquet. The wall where the door was had been covered in hooks for her 21x15 inch glossies of Saiyuki that she had placed sandwiched between 22x22 inch pieces of wood and glass. Therefore, as you should be able to tell, the wall was covered almost completely in 21x15 inch glossies of Saiyuki [Just so as you know, out of her 600+++ strong collection of 21x15 inch glossies, only about 20 odd AREN'T Saiyuki] and there was also a hook on the door for non-Saiyuki ones. A section of wall above the desk in direct view of the cubicle-bed-thingy has been somehow painted with a pic of the Saiyuki guys at their best. The bathroom remained white, except now the walls had one line all around of tiles with swirls in the centre. The bed- cubicle-thingy now has a curtain in front of it, one of those Jap-curtain- thingies that are a bit stiff, get me? Anyway, it's red and it has this Chinese character 'yao' [yao guai=youkai=demon, yao=aya, aya=jap pronunciation of yao] calligraphy-ed in white on it)  
  
The decorating was done, and Aya settled down for a nap, having used up a lot of energy both decorating her room AND convincing herself that she didn't want to see Aki's room, and if she DID go see it anyway, that she will regret it.  
  
(And yes, her room IS air-conditioned)  
  
Her nap was done at about 6 something and she slid down the stair banister, walking into her very clean looking kitchen. She found exactly the way she dreamed of - full to the brim with food. Lots and lots of FOOD.  
  
Not being in the mood to cook, she just got herself a cup noodles. She had just finished it when she felt a familiar blue aura close in. She dashed up the stairs, skipping as many steps as her long legs would allow, almost pushing her brother down, meanwhile.  
  
Aki too had fixed himself a cup noodles and had to open the door for Aoi when the doorbell rang.  
  
"Where's your sister?"  
  
Aki smirked, thinking, 'So, I almost get bulldozed over because of this.' And replied, "Upstairs getting ready. Sit down. If you're hungry, all I can say is, I hope you like sugar."  
  
Aoi swore he heard a somewhat feminine voice yell, "ONII-CHAN!"  
  
Aya appeared a minute later jumping down from the second level in a long black skirt and a red T-shirt, landing perfectly on her feet. She looked to the second level and with a flick of her wrist, Aoi saw a small black drawstring pouch levitate. With another flick of her wrist, the pouch flew down and she caught it.  
  
"Coming Aki?"  
  
"Nah."  
  
*Sept 1*  
  
School had come again, and according to Aoi and the rest, they were entering high school at Hanashin, and the first few days of freshman year was always exams to test what they remembered from junior high.  
  
During assembly (which is every Mon), they were told that to encourage creativity, they were allowed to alter their uniforms, white shirt with school badge (it's one of those pin-ons like the ones we have here in Singapore) and navy pants for guys, white blouse with badge and a navy pleated skirt for girls, in anyway they wanted, as long as it was recognizable for the Hanashin school uniform.  
  
On the way to class, Aya had popped into the bathroom and changed her uniform (with magic, of course) into a white long sleeved turtle neck which was a bit long, reaching down to hug her hips together with everything else and an almost-knee-length navy pleated skirt. She pinned her badge on as she walked out.  
  
(By the way, they're all squashed in the corner like Sakura-tachi was in elementary school. Aoi where Syaoran was, in front of him is Aya, in front of her is Aki, in front of him is Tetsuya, in front of him is Elle. Next to Aoi is Tsuki, in front of her is Ken, in front of him is Ken, in front of him is Yumi, in front of her is Yuki. Next to Tsuki is Yong Li, in front of her is Hoshi, in front of him is Ryo, and in front of him is Sen. The seats are arranged 5x8, meaning that Gen 2 takes up almost three rows on their own and make up about a third of the class)  
  
In homeroom, their form teacher, a student teacher called Sumitomo Kasumi, went through icebreakers (though not before staring at Aya, who was the only one in an altered uniform, thinking 'shit she must be strong. Not everyone would be able to alter the entire uniform within the two minutes they have to get here'), forcing them to stand up one by one and then the others could ask them anything. This was rather pointless, as most of them came from Hanashin Junior High. BUT, keyword: MOST. Only two of them didn't come from HJH, those were Aya and Aki.  
  
Aya stood up first and the room broke into hushed whispers, that is, until she let loose her own version of the Li family Death Glare, even more deadly than the former.  
  
Sumitomo-sensei asked, "So, any questions for the new girl?"  
  
A boy raised his hand, "Yeah! What's your number?"  
  
She smiled sweetly, "I've got one brother, lost my parents two months ago, live in the tenth house on Cherry Lane (the name of the road thingy their houses are on), have more than 600 21x15 inch glossies, worked for my father's company since I was twelve until my parents died and we had to sell it, am worth several million US on my own, at one point of time have had 5 different addresses at the same time, am standing at more than 170 centimetres, take your pick. Or do you need more choices?"  
  
She smiled even MORE sweetly, making the gang have to hold their laughs in. There were no more questions for her, and Aki breezed through his interrogation, having kept the Lee family Death Glare on his face the whole time.  
  
They looked at their schedules and realized that they had all their classes together, and today, it was Math, English, Eng Lit, Chinese, History, Lunch, Martial Arts, Sorcery and that's it. Sen, being the only person in the WHOLE institute who didn't have magic, didn't have to take Sorcery, and always went to help Chiharu in the nurse's office during the last period.  
  
As they walked together to the Math classroom, they stopped by their lockers, which were all in one row, to get the stuff or dump stuff in. Actually, they all dumped stuff in, keeping with them only their foolscap paper, and pencil cases, and Aya was the only one who took something out, i.e., her mp3 player.  
  
Aoi saw her and hissed, "What in the fourteen hells do you think you're doing? You know those things are banned in class."  
  
She laughed a bit, "Relax, will you? I won't be caught, there's no aura on this thing. Bask in the glory of the wonders of modern technology and plain intelligence. I'm wired."  
  
She slipped the tiny (as in the size of her thumb tiny) cylindrical device into her pocket, but plugging something into it first. "See?" She traced her fingers along the wired up her back, then her neck and pushed her hair behind her ear. There was a transparent earpiece in it with a wire that coiled behind her ear and into her shirt. She grinned, "Come on. Admit. I'm good."  
  
Aoi smirked, "Wakata, wakata. What songs you listening to anyway?"  
  
"This particular baby contains the music I've composed but have not added lyrics to. I have one more in my pencil case."  
  
"You write your own music?"  
  
"For fun."  
  
They walked to class and since Aya and Aki didn't even take junior high, let alone in what country, they didn't have to take the tests. Aki just slouched over, falling asleep almost immediately on the desk, as Aya listened to her music, humming and singing softly under her breath, scribbling away furiously.  
  
At lunch, they all took their bento boxes from their lockers and went to eat in the lunchroom. What TRULY grabbed their attention was Aya and her lunch box, which was one of those untreated pine ones. She took a pair of chopsticks out of a slim plastic pouch and opened her lunch box, raising the chopsticks above it. Having readied herself in something of an eating stance, she yelled out rather genki-ly, "ITADAKIMASU!!" before attacking her home made sushi at full-force.  
  
The rest stared at her, sweatdropping, then turned to her brother who shrugged, "What? She's like this all the time! She's never NOT hungry, haven't you realized that?"  
  
They looked back to her, then to him, to her again, then to him again, shaking their heads vigorously like there was no tomorrow. Or if you still don't get how fast that was, they were shaking their heads at 3825877353 km/h on FAST-FORWARD. Get it now? Good.  
  
They stared for a while then attacked their own lunches. After they were all done, they just sat there talking. Somehow, things led to another and they were now talking about the Junior High prom. Aya, her brother noticed, was getting increasingly uncomfortable and jittery, and only he knew why.  
  
"So, Aya, what was YOUR prom like?" Tsuki asked.  
  
"Yeah, tell us about it. What's it like down in Singapore?" Sen added.  
  
There was silence for a while, and the expression in Aya's eyes told her brother that they'd touched a sore spot. Then, she opened her mouth to speak, "I shan't," she pushed herself off the table with her hands, pushing the chair over with a crash, "because I can't."  
  
They looked to Aki for answers once again, "She didn't HAVE a prom."  
  
A crossed look appeared on Yong Li's face, "So? Don't need to get all huffy about it."  
  
"Ah, BUT, she loved proms. Ever since her P6 prom night, she was looking forward to the one in Secondary school and the one in JC. But now, because we had to move here, she missed the secondary school one AND she has to wait another four years for the next one."  
  
Aoi pushed off from the table too, "And I'm the only one who remembered." He turned to the four Chens, "Your parents have told us about the school system down there before, and I'm the only one who remembered. I'm going after her."  
  
He followed the strong red aura and found himself under one of the many cherry trees (If you REALLY want to know, this one juz happened to be special. It was the first one they had planted on the island and happened to be one of the few which blossomed all year round) looking up at her sitting on one of the lower branches. "Can I come up?"  
  
"Go ahead. No one's stopping you."  
  
He swung himself up onto her branch, "Aki told us about what was bothering you. If it's any comfort, here in high school, you can look forward to at least six dances a year."  
  
"It should be, but that's not all that's bothering me. I suppose you COULD call me homesick. I miss my house, my friends, my best friend, my school, my mom."  
  
"What about your dad?"  
  
"My dad? Nah. He's a bastard. Both literally AND figuratively."  
  
"You're one weird girl, you know that? Most peeps I know would prefer to have BOTH their parents. If it makes things better, we can be your friends."  
  
"You guys already ARE my friends. Regarding THAT particular topic, it's my best friend I miss the most. The worst is that I know even if I go back and stay there forever, we can never be best friends again. She broke off our friendship the moment I told her I had to leave. She accused me off leaving her at one of her most tender moments. You see, she only had two people close to her - her grandmother, and me. Her grandmother just passed away a few days before I found out I had to leave. She accused me of ditching her just when she needed me most." She was silent for a few seconds, "ch. Like I didn't need her then. I lost my life when I left, and she only lost her grandmother." Then she sighed. "I need a best friend."  
  
"Sorry about that. Wish I understood what it was like to have to leave your whole life behind and start afresh." He put his arm around her comfortingly, "How about I be your best friend, or at least until you find a better replacement."  
  
She smiled at him, "That'd be great. Arigatou."  
  
"C'mon. We gotta go. No doubt the rest will be wondering where the hell we are." He trailed off as he looked down, "Or not."  
  
She looked down too and met the sight of a V10 (well, V8s were from Tomoyo's time, shouldn't they have upgraded by then?) pointed right at them.]  
  
"KAWAII~~~!!!!!!"  
  
(Yes, in case you haven't guessed, that was Elle)  
  
Aya and Aki found that they fit in quite well, and found themselves rising to the ranks of 'Popular' thanks or no thanks to the fact that they were already accepted as part of the gang.  
  
That's done. Quite long, dontcha think? Ah wellz. I know the prologue was a bit confusing, but bear with it, please. Anyway, R+R! I need all the feedback I can get so I can alter things to fit what you guys expect of me. And no, I'm not one of those who like to delete all their flames just to look good. I'M NOT LIKE THAT!! In fact, I want them, so I know exactly what people think of me and can adapt to what they want so flames, BRING IT ON! 


	3. Hi, my name is Bill and I like tight pan...

Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 2: Bios*  
  
~*~  
  
Name: Lee Aya  
  
Date of birth: 29/12/2005  
  
One or more very wuliao fact: She juz about the only girl who only owns 2 sets of normal underwear. Instead, she wears these black swimsuit-like things of which she has a LOT and quite a few dif designs. (e.g. bareback, cross-back, turtleneck, halter neck, etc.)  
  
~*~  
  
Name: Lee Aki  
  
Date of birth: 29/12/2005  
  
One or more very wuliao fact: He's a direct replica of Genjo Sanzo only younger. Enough said.  
  
~*~  
  
Name: Li Aoi  
  
Date of birth: 06/06/2005  
  
One or more very wuliao fact: Never really was TOO social until Aya came along. Hmm...  
  
~*~  
  
Name: Li Tsuki  
  
Date of birth: 06/06/2005  
  
One or more very wuliao fact: VERY easy to anger and VERY violent when she's not in a good mood.  
  
~*~  
  
Name: Hiiragizawa Elle  
  
Date of birth: 06/09/2005  
  
One or more very wuliao fact: The only things she inherited from Eriol are the eyes and the passion for mischief. NOW can you guess what she's like?  
  
~*~  
  
Name: Akizuki Tetsuya  
  
Date of birth: 03/06/2005  
  
One or more very wuliao fact: He's looks and behaves strangely like Eriol. VERY strangely like Eriol.  
  
~*~  
  
Name: Masuda Yong Li  
  
Date of birth: 24/08/2005  
  
One or more very wuliao fact: She's more like a guy than some guys I know.  
  
~*~  
  
Name: Tajiri Ryo  
  
Date of birth: 23/05/2005  
  
One or more very wuliao fact: Has an acute case of usagi-o-phobia. (You'll find out what usagi is in a while if you dun already know)  
  
~*~  
  
Name: Harada Hoshi  
  
Date of birth: 07/12/2005  
  
One or more very wuliao fact: Only two people can equal him in appetite - Son Goku and Aya.  
  
~*~  
  
Name: Yamazaki Sen  
  
Date of birth: 27/10/2005  
  
One or more very wuliao fact: Is the only one in Gen 2 who doesn't have magic. Instead, she prides herself in being the gang's tech expert.  
  
~*~  
  
Name: Chen Kei  
  
Date of birth: 05/01/2005  
  
One or more very wuliao fact: Too calm, collected and vulgar for his own good.  
  
~*~  
  
Name: Chen Ken  
  
Date of birth: 31/09/2005  
  
One or more very wuliao fact: Will never understand the phrase, "Don't ask for trouble when trouble don't ask for you" no matter how many times his friend yell it into his ear.  
  
~*~  
  
Name: Chen Yuki  
  
Date of birth: 31/09/2005  
  
One or more very wuliao fact: Get on her nerves and she'll flood your house.  
  
~*~  
  
Name: Chen Yumi  
  
Date of birth: 02/12/2005  
  
One or more very wuliao fact: Forever five, need I say more?  
  
~*~  
  
These are their bios. Their not-very-informative bios, but who cares huh? Ja ne! 


	4. Iraq's gunwielding youths are called ter...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (e.g. ^Japanese^ means that all dialogue after that is in Jap until I change the language or there's something I write there that is NOT in Jap, like if I write han yu pin yin after ^Japanese^, that bit or romaji after ^English^, that bit is Jap, capish?) (.) - My daft self . - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
Note: kaado = card in Jap  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 3: Aoikaado*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
Aya and Aki found that they fit in quite well, and found themselves rising to the ranks of 'Popular' thanks or no thanks to the fact that they were already accepted as part of the gang.  
  
~*~  
  
Thursday came (as in the first Thursday after Sept 1, which we'll juz say is a Mon) and the gang were hanging out at the Li's backyard bored half to death. They were sprawled over tables, chairs, the ground and Tsuki was hanging upside down on one of the cherry tree's branches. Yong Li glared at the sky as Sen sighed, "I never thought I'd say this but I wish they gave us more homework, or at least more CHALLENGING homework."  
  
They all sighed as the sliding door opened and Sakura & Eriol appeared, sweatdropping at the site of their wonderful backyard littered with bored teenagers. There was an "EEP~!!" and everyone scrambled to get up, only to fall over each other again. Sakura giggled and said, "Aoi, we need to talk to you."  
  
Aya pulled her new best friend up and unseen by anyone, slipped something out of her pocket. She slapped him on the back causing him to stumble forward, "Well, go already!"  
  
She slipped an earpiece into her ear, connecting the other end of the wire to a small black cube. Only then did she notice Aki glaring at her and grinned and innocent grin, "Nande, itoshii onii-chan?" (What, beloved brother?)  
  
He smirked and turned away, as they returned to sprawling all over the backyard. Aya, however, had other plans. Once she was in a sufficiently comfortable position, she started paying attention to the conversation Aoi was having with his mother and Eriol. (Yes! You're right! She bugged him!)  
  
"Aoi, about the cards, you know you DO have to change them." (Sakura-san)  
  
"Do I have to go through what you did, okaa-san?" and under his breath, "Please say no, please say no."  
  
Eriol answered, "No. (YES!) The Sakura Cards are different from the Clow Cards. But don't get too happy. There's something else in store for you."  
  
"Yes. Instead of what I had to do, there are conditions. You'll have to change them all at once and soon."  
  
"But if I change them all at once and if I don't have enough energy, won't that mean that..."  
  
"I'm afraid so. You'll die." Came Eriol's deep voice.  
  
"But if we could channel energy from somebody, he might be able to pull it off."  
  
"Maybe, but the process alone will take up too much energy, won't it, okaa- san?"  
  
"But there IS one way..." Aya could almost see Eriol smirking.  
  
"What is that? Whatever it is, if it works, we'll do it."  
  
"Oh yeah, Sakura? You really think he'll be able to concentrate on changing the cards with someone kissing him at the same time?"  
  
"NANI??!!!"  
  
"Well, THAT idea's scratched then. And if you want to know, yes, that is one method that involves a non-energy-consuming process, but obviously unusable in this context."  
  
"So now what?"  
  
Aya smiled, 'Haven't they thought of THAT yet? Ah well."  
  
She got up, and everyone diverted their gazes towards her, "I'm going to the bathroom."  
  
She walked in casually and followed the three auras until she got to a room. She knocked the door and went in, "Hey. I think you guys forgot something."  
  
Sakura and Eriol were looking at her in surprise, "But how did you know what we were talking about?"  
  
She smiled, "As I told dear Aoi-chan on Monday, bask in the wonders of modern technology." She walked over and picked a small device off Aoi's shirt, "Bugging. The best part is, no auras involved." She grinned.  
  
Eriol shook his head, "Is there anything about this girl that won't surprise us?"  
  
Aya smiled and said, "Yes, everything. Anyway, you guys forgot about something."  
  
"What may that be, AYA-CHAN?" Aoi glared at her, his voice dripping with sarcasm.  
  
"If existing spells don't work, make your own."  
  
"Make your own?" Eriol stared at her, wondering if she was crazy.  
  
"Sure don't you guys do that all the time? I know I do. More complex stuff would probably take me about at the most a day to do (They gaped at her some more) but the simple ones I can do in about a minute." (They gaped EVEN more) "Um, what are you guys staring at me for?"  
  
"I don't know if you know this, but it takes a very strong sorcerer to create something without aide as far as I know." Aoi blinked a few times.  
  
"Really? I don't think so. Clow Reed did it, didn't he? Although it WAS a pity that he died right after sealing everything. Ah well. Anyway, since you guys seem so reluctant, why don't I do it? Seriously. I'll be done by the end of today, since all I'll have to do is make something to open this sort of portal for the energy to flow. So I'll pop by after dinner then? Besides, I gotta get home. My friends are waiting for me online."  
  
"Um, ok."  
  
As she left, they turned to stare at each other, then at the door, as silence reigned until Eriol spoke up, "I think she may well be the strongest sorceress this world has seen since Clow Reed."  
  
*Time skip*  
  
By now, everyone had heard, somehow or other about what was happening in a few minutes and the gang was gathered at the Li's. When Aya opened the door, Elle bombarded her, "AYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!!! YOU HAVE GOT TO WEAR THIS OUTFIT I MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADE~!!!!"  
  
Everyone sweatdropped and Tetsuya smirked, "She went machine-happy again."  
  
Aya grinned, "So THAT'S what happened to Aoi, " referring to the sulking, glaring boy slumped on the couch wearing something identical to what his father wore during the days of Card Captor Sakura, only in blue, "I thought he was preparing to go join the clowns in the circus in case he fails in his task and is too ashamed to see us again."  
  
He glared at her, making everyone laugh. Aya continued, "We'd have to wait a bit for the spell to settle. It's still a bit unstable, so we've got a bit of time on our hands."  
  
She entered a bathroom and emerged in an outfit that was a bit like Meiling's battle costume, only it was completely deep red and it had a red phoenix climbing up the side of her pants (As in only the basic cut is copied, everything else is different).  
  
She folded her clothes as Elle and Tomoyo erupted into a joint "KAWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!" She sweatdropped and picked up her pouch (the same one as on the first day). She tossed it in the air a few times and examined it closely, "Yup. It's done." She yanked on the drawstring, releasing hundreds of tiny red marbles that circled her at eye-level. She turned around with her and raised ready to grab today's spell. Occasionally, she would move her hand as if to snatch one of them out of the air but decide against it. Then, she found it. She snatched it from the air and the rest returned to the pouch. She looked at the others, "Ready?"  
  
They nodded as they walked up the stairs into a large room with parquet flooring and mirrors all around. Even the door was mirrored.  
  
Aya asked Aoi, "What's everyone here for? Watch the show?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Huh? What show IS there to watch anyway?"  
  
"Mainly to see if your spell works."  
  
"Is it really THAT fascinating?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Stupid question, stupid answer. And by the way, I'm not sure if you're interested, but I think I know a way to make things easier."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Your own mark."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Or whatever that thing is called. Clow's mark was that round thingy with the sun in the centre, Sakura-san's has the star in the centre, and if you decide to have your own, yours will have a moon in the centre."  
  
"How do YOU know?"  
  
"That's because your get your power from the moon, like your dad. Tsuki gets hers from the sun, like Eriol-san, which is really quite strange, to tell the truth. I mean, you inherited yours from your dad, but Tsuki didn't get hers from your mom, but from someone COMPLETELY different. Then again, you could always put it this way. Seriously, the sun's a star isn't it..."  
  
"Stop it. You're rambling. You sure it'll make things easier? How DOES one make it, anyway?"  
  
"Picture it. It's not exactly the same as what your mom did, but you're not her, so it's explainable. Now will you hurry up already? If you need any help, the spell will open a link between us during the process. Although I'm not exactly sure if there will be any side effects, but we'll talk about that later."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
He stood in the middle of the room, "Ready when you are."  
  
Aya had gone off to tell Eriol and Aoi's parents about what they plan to do and double-check the process, and then returned to Aoi, "Ok, ready?"  
  
"More than ever."  
  
"Just relax first." She stood behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders. She felt it relax slightly and then more and more. The Sakura cards lifted slightly off the floor and floated upwards to surround Aoi. Aya felt him completely relax and lifted her hands off his shoulders, drawing the spell from her pocket. She closed her eyes and held the round marble between her palms for a few seconds. As she drew her palms away from each other, a glow appeared (like ki blasts, you know? Actually technically it IS a ki blast) (Haz. I found ki in the Jap dictionary. It's Jap for qi) and grew. When it was sufficiently big, she brought her hand back and shoved the blast into Aoi's back, making him falter the slightest bit. She pressed her palms (one over the other) to his back as the spot glowed crimson. After a while, the glow subsided and the portal was opened.  
  
(BTW, the following convo is going on in the heads of Aya and Aoi k? So no one else can hear it)  
  
"Aoi, you there?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Good. Now, concentrate and picture the mark in front of you."  
  
"But how the hell am I supposed to know what it looks like?"  
  
"Yue was the one who supported Clow the most, Likewise for Eriol-san & Li- san and Sakura-san. It's likely that YOUR support will come from your sister, Tsuki. Try something exactly like Clow's and Sakura-san's except with a moon in the centre and a sun around it."  
  
HE tried, but it, "DIDN'T WORK!"  
  
"I realise that, thank you. But it's not possible... is it?"  
  
"Is what possible? Whatever it is, TRY IT."  
  
"Seriously. If I'm right, The Chens draw their power from the moon, like you, Hoshi, Ryo, Yong Li, Elle and Tsuki draw theirs from the sun, Aki draws his from his star, Tetsuya draws his from the moon, and I draw mine from my star. It won't be a moon. Eriol-san said that you need something different to compliment your powers and it can't be a sun, we tried that already and it DEFINITELY won't be Aki. No, can't be. Try again."  
  
She could almost feel him grinning, it practically radiated off him, "What? Can't believe that it could be you? Alright then." He tried again, but as expected, it didn't work.  
  
"ARGH GODAMMIT! Try it again!"  
  
He smirked, and tried, but a different one. Instead of the sun, he imagined a star, and it worked. Aya felt the energy flowing through her into Aoi, "Good it FINALLY worked."  
  
"What do you mean finally? Take a closer look."  
  
She felt for the mark and saw what he meant, "Oh bloody."  
  
"So, like it or not, I guess you're gonna be my support."  
  
"Bloody hell. Just change the cards already."  
  
"Yes ma'am."  
  
*Outside*  
  
They watched in amazement as the mark appeared glowing brighter than ever. Aoi raised his sword and yelled out the names of each card in turn, as he changed them, every second as strong as he was the last. Everyone watched in awe and no one noticed Aya's energy level plummeting. When he finally finished changing the last card and the glowing subsided, her hands dropped to her sides, "I guess it needs a little tweaking." and she fell, unconscious. Aki dashed to catch his sister, and glared at Aoi to back off, as he too had turned around to catch her before she fell. They fussed over her and Tomoyo whispered to Syaoran, "You know, they bear a striking resemblance to Touya and Sakura."  
  
He smiled and nodded, "Looks like we've got another sister complex to deal with. Pity. I have a feeling that he'll have to start letting go of her and trusting Aoi very soon."  
  
YAYZ!!! DONE!!!! Anyhow, I'm BEGGING!! As far as I know, I STILL dun have any reviews *whimper, whimper*. Ah well. Anyway R+R! Ja ne! 


	5. Golden rule: He who has the gold, makes ...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (btw, I know tt for these two chappies, I haven't been writing this, mainly cos I'm too lazy. Anyhow, the language will always be what it was the last time I wrote this thing, k?) (.) - My daft self . - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
By the way, sea-dragon, I'm not kidding abt the similarities between Aya and Gojyo. The hairstyles are the same, except Aya's hair is longer, they both have the same attitude, the same posture, the tendency to curse and swear and the immaturity, except Aya's more immature. And no, the number thing was NOT based on real-life and NO, I was not flustered. I was just worried about you telling everyone else. The LAST thing I need is two particular girls pestering me about it. I'll try not to be biased towards her, dun worry, k? But the 'camera' is gonna be following her around, her being the main chara, you understand. The romance thing, it is NOT between me and anyone, it is between AYA and someone, that is IF there is gonna BE any romance between AYA and anyone. Seriously, you people! Why is it that everything means romance? It could just mean a really good and close friendship. GEEZ! There is a dif between Chan and me as writers. He uses real names, real personas. If I use real personas, I do NOT use real names, k? And abt the chickens, it's supposed to make fun of the British. As in that civil war thing, they yelled, "The British are coming! The British are coming!" You're coming in one or two chappies after this one, k? And dun worry. I'll make you a tad bit taller than you really are. Still more than ten cm shorter than Aya tho. Hehez. And before I stop, help me ask the sad bunny if I can put him in the fic? Ryo meets Ryan SHOULD be quite funny, don't ya think? My com contracted SARS, as I have already told you and can't be bothered to do it myself. Your idea anyway. One last thing, about the Gojyo thing, WUP ASS! Hahahaz. So, ONWARDS!  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 4: Aftermath*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
He smiled and nodded, "Looks like we've got another sister complex to deal with. Pity. I have a feeling that he'll have to start letting go of her and trusting Aoi very soon."  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
That morning, Aoi and Tsuki emerged from their house to join the others to walk to school to find Aya jumping around shrieking like a deranged banshee. Aoi and Tsuki sweatdropped and glared at Aki, knowing what caused the madness, "YOU SAID YOU'D DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO KEEP HER AWAY FROM COFFEE!!"  
  
Aki threw his hands up in defence, "Well, if she hadn't burned all her energy last night helping you, she wouldn't have been in the half-dead state she was in this morning. She was so half-dead that I HAD to let her have some coffee to prevent her from falling asleep in class today, and she, um, KINDA got carried away."  
  
Aya was hyper all through class that day until lunch when the gang poured a full bottle of sleeping pills (nicked from the nurse's office, of course) into her water bottle, and she returned to her normal self (whoa. Even I'M not that bad). Aoi took the chance to ask her about the side effects of the previous night's spell, to which she replied, "What night? What spell?"  
  
"LAST NIGHT. THE SPELL THAT YOU USED TO CHANNEL YOUR ENERGY TO ME. YOU SAID THERE MIGHT BE SIDE EFFECTS. WHAT SIDE EFFECTS?" He said this all nice and slow to make sure she understood.  
  
"Oh THAT spell. Well, for one there could be a permanent mental link, we'll just see. Also, we may be able to pass energy to and fro without a spell. We also may end up having control over each other's magic, like, I'll have control over the cards and you can use my spells."  
  
Aoi thought, 'What the...'  
  
Aya then smiled, and 'thought' back, 'Yes. 'What the...' is right.'  
  
Aoi was puzzled, "You say something, Aya?"  
  
"Think something. Anything."  
  
"Uh, ok?"  
  
She started roaring with laughter, "That, Aoi, is all too true."  
  
Aoi started cracking up too as the rest stared at them. Tsuki finally had enough, "Ok. I've had enough. WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON??"  
  
"Aoi says," *gasp for breath while trying to talk while laughing* "that," *ditto* "Kinoshita-sensei," *DEEP breath* "PROBABLYCARRIESTHATUMBRELLAAROUNDCOSSHE'LL-MELT-IFSHEGETSWET!!!!" Aya couldn't stand it and collapsed to the ground in fits of laughter.  
  
Aki stared at his sister for a while as his mouth started to twitch, despite him pressing his lips together so hard, they were white. He then turned to stare at the sky, using one of their old friend's techniques. He muttered under his breath, "The sky looks LOVELY today. The perfect shade of blue. Just the right amount of clouds." Didn't work, plan B. He took several deep breaths and calmed himself, "I suppose you guys needed some translations?"  
  
They took a peek at the two rolling around laughing their asses off, "Yes."  
  
"He said that, Kinoshita-sensei probably carries that umbrella around because she'll probably MELT if she gets wet."  
  
They stared at him for a while and he said, "Ok. I can't take it anymore." And he broke down clutching his sides laughing.  
  
One by one, they fell prey to laughter and people passed by staring at a third of the freshman class rolling around laughing their asses off.  
  
*After school*  
  
(Note: For their first semester, freshmen don't have Extra Curricular Activities, after this referred to as ECA, k?)  
  
Sen waited outside the sorcery classroom waiting for her friends to come out. (Remember? She doesn't take sorcery) She was just on the verge of tearing her hair out when the bell rang and the gang came bursting out of the room. "FINALLY! I need to tell you something, guys."  
  
Yong Li yawned, "What?"  
  
Ryo chastised, "Close your mouth when you yawn. It's positively atrocious. I mean, seriously, you still have a bit of seaweed from that onigiri you pilfered from Aya."  
  
"She could spare it. Anyhow, what is it, Sen?"  
  
"Sugimori Hideki and Hideko-chan are back."  
  
Yong Li groaned, "Aw man. That bastard again? Hideko-chan isn't TOO bad, but that bastard? How do you know, anyway?"  
  
"Had to top up the office's first aid kit and overheard the secretary talking to his mom. Apparently, they're supposed to be AWOL, but the mom's arguing. Speaking of the devil..."  
  
They turned and saw a group of boys and a girl coming in their walk out of the door. The girl realised they were there and smiled, "Konnichiwa, minna- san!"  
  
They greeted her in return. Tsuki decided to introduce the new additions to the group, "Konnichiwa, Hideko-chan. Kochira wa Lee Aki-san to Lee Aya-san desu. Aki, Aya, kochira wa Sugimori Hideko-san desu." (The literal meaning of kochira wa is 'as for this person', but basically, it means 'This is Aki and Aya. Aki, Aya, this is Sugimori Hideko.')  
  
Hideko smiled and was about to say something when one of the guys interrupted her, "So, new girl huh?" he walked around Aya examining her head to toe, receiving the Lee family death glare, then he smirked up at her, "Hmm, not bad. Tall, unlike most of the shortasses those lower-class freaks are. Feisty too." He smirked again and placed his mouth roughly over hers pushing her against the wall, feeling a sharp well-placed pain in his back almost immediately after, "Ah F***!!!" (Sorry for the mush, dragon, in this paragraph or at any point beyond this. If it makes the story better, it makes the story better)  
  
Aki had elbowed him in the back and was currently glaring at him while the others kept the rest from being involved. Hideki turned on his new opponent as a sword materialized in his hand. He sneered and got into a stance. He charged and stabbed forwards. Aki dodged this easily to the side and high- kicked his wrist, making the sword fall with a clang to the side. Hideki, not giving up, drew his fist back to punch Aki, but the smaller built boy was faster. He grabbed his opponent's drawn-back wrist with his left hand and used his right hand to push Hideki to the ground. He leaned his weight onto the boy's left wrist and back, keeping him down. Hideki had other ideas. He stretched out his palm, using a summoning spell to bring his sword into his hand. Aya saw this and jammed her heel into his right forearm, making the bone snap. She then ground her heel down and twisted for effect, making him yell in agony. The brother-sister team then released their victim as they sensed Sumitomo-sensei rushing towards them. Hideki was just picking up his sword as she came into sight. She sighed, "Really, Sugimori-san. Your first day, and you're ALREADY in trouble. I sometimes wonder if my career as a teacher is cursed. I ALWAYS end up with the troublemakers. I'm afraid we've got to call your mother right after we hung up on her."  
  
Hideki growled, as his sister sighed, coming to the rescue, "I'm sorry ma'am, but this was all an accident. My brother was trying to show off for the new girl here, and fell."  
  
Their form teacher replied, "Ok then. But any more of this, we'll have to call you mother."  
  
As she walked away, and Hideko glared at her twin, "I saved your ass once, I damn bloody well won't do it again."  
  
"Whatever, imouto-chan. We're going to the nurse's office. Now."  
  
He started walking away with his posse and his sister trailing unwillingly behind when Sen spoke up, "No use. It's locked."  
  
"What. Do. You. Mean. Locked?" He growled menacingly.  
  
"I mean, my mom's smoothing over some complications down at the dock about the new stocks and the sub's standing right here in front of you."  
  
He stuck his broken arm in her face, "Well, do your job then, SUB."  
  
She swatted his arm away, making him wince, and glared the best her good nature allowed her, "Firstly, I don't bloody care for your bloody tone. Secondly, I bloody won't, after what you bloody did to my friends. I bloody agree with Hideko-chan that she SHOULDN'T bloody save your bloody friggin ungrateful ass bloody again. You can bloody go to the bloody hospital building if you bloody want that bloody fixed. And by the bloody way, you bloody better get that bloody fixed bloody soon. It bloody would actually bloody be VERY bloody if the bloody skin had bloody broken and it could bloody clot." (Yes, you guessed it. When Sen gets mad, her sentences are peppered with the word bloody)  
  
They were glared at once again as he stormed off with his bevy of underlings and Hideko glancing apologetically backwards. Trailing behind, Aoi asked his best friend, "Hey, ok back there?"  
  
"Yeah, just a bit shaken. That's why he has to get arm fixed instead of his testicles."  
  
"Ha. Now THAT'S the Aya we all know and love. Still shaken?"  
  
"A bit. And know what would make it all better?"  
  
"What? I am at your command, oh great one."  
  
"Really? Then a treat at the sundae place will be nice, every Friday for as long was we live. I've yet to see what it's like there, anyway."  
  
"Alright."  
  
Then, they heard Yong Li's voice, "Hey, why don't we all go down to my place to play with my Playstation VIII? I just bought Final Fantasy 25!"  
  
Aoi yelled to the front, "You guys go ahead. I've just been bullied by my best friend into giving her a treat at the sundae place every Friday for as long as we live."  
  
Tsuki faced her brother, "Ok then. I'll be seeing you at home. Don't let things get carried away, k?" She winked.  
  
Her brother glared in reply, "Ah shut it."  
  
At the ice-cream parlour, Aya ordered the first thing that caught her eye, a triple chocolate sundae. Three scoops of chocolate, hot fudge, cold fudge, chocolate chips, whipped cream and a wafer to top it off.  
  
Done, done, done. I'm finishing these things much faster now that my com's contracted SARS. For the less open-minded and humorous, it's got a virus inside preventing me from starting up and it's gotta be reformatted. Bummer. Gotta download all my stuff again. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll be able to get my dad to get an ADSL modem. What absolute sadness. Anyway, BE LIKE SEA-DRAGON and -REVIEW-!!!!! Ja ne, for now! 


	6. Overheard: I want to die peacefully in m...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (btw, I know tt for these two chappies, I haven't been writing this, mainly cos I'm too lazy. Anyhow, the language will always be what it was the last time I wrote this thing, k?) (.) - My daft self . - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 5: Elle's Birthday*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
At the ice-cream parlour, Aya ordered the first thing that caught her eye, a triple chocolate sundae. Three scoops of chocolate, hot fudge, cold fudge, chocolate chips, whipped cream and a wafer to top it off.  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
It was Saturday, and Tetsuya had successfully got Elle out of the house. Now, everything else was up to the rest and they were doing a pretty good job SO FAR, thank god. When she got home, streamers exploded into her face. She got such a shock, she screamed and buried herself into Tetsuya. He was laughing as he wrapped his arms around his friend. She finally got the guts to let go and met the sight of her friends laughing their asses off. She scowled at them as they led her in. the party went pretty well after that and blah, blah, yadda, yadda, until it was time to open the presents.  
  
Aya and Sen joined forces to give her a remote-controlled projector that looked like a black box with a lens at one end and a slot at the other for mini-CDs (they used CDs, video-cassettes and diskettes now, they use 700mb mini-CDs then, k?) and hovers. Aki gave her a key chain in the form of a mini Smith & Wesson. Aoi and Tsuki gave her a new portable sewing machine. The Chens gave her a voice-controlled lamp that hovers three inches over any surface. It was basically this clear sphere. When you say, "Flying monkeys", four tiny little magic fireflies will wake up and their tails will light up, one red, two blue, and one green, each representing the four people who gave it to her. To turn it off, one had to say, "Follow the yellow brick road." Yong Li gave her an authentic 'Let Go' CD by Avril Lavigne (Mind you, she'll be thirty something 'now'). Ryo gave her a whole new stack of mini-CDs for her camera, bringing about glares from everyone else, because that meant more filming. He threw his hands up in defence, "What? I couldn't think of anything else!" Hoshi got her a new Discman and the adults got her ten metres of the best black silk they could find.  
  
Alright, alright. I couldn't think of anything. That's why it's so damn bloody short. I forgot TOTALLY about Elle's (Or anyone else's for that matter) birthday. What utter sadness. Ah well. 


	7. What've you got to lose? You've come fro...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (.) - My daft self . - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
Oh and btw, I changed the dates a bit. See, I made my own Aoi Youkai alternate universe calendar, where Jan 1 2014 is a Mon, so school actually started on Sept 3, k?  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 6: Exchange Programme *  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
The adults got her ten metres of the best black silk they could find.  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
On Monday, they headed straight for the notice board. The adults have been hinting all weekend that something major had happened. When they got there, they found a large crowd already there. They craned their necks, jumped up and down, failing miserably to get the slightest glimpse of whatever everyone else was so interested in. Aya lost it, "ARGH!" She opened her little pouch and the little marbles floated up into the air again. She snatched one out of the air and threw it against the ground, making time stop. She then pointed at the crowd and moved them enough to the left so that they could read the notice. Apparently, they were having an ALMOST all- year round exchange programme to Singapore and England. They'll be spending four days in Singapore before moving on to England to spend the rest of the school year there in a school of magic (Hahaz. Told you it'll be a mega crossover. The rest will be coming soon). The three school heads (Sakura, Syaoran and Eriol) will be accompanying them and the Lings would be taking over as the deputies. There was a sign-up form that would've been full despite the fact that everything was to be paid for by the students, except for fifty percent of the airfare that would be subsidised by the school, and there was exactly thirteen slots left, out of twenty. Aki peered at the form, "Sugimori Hideki, Sugimori Hideko, Maita Rei? What the..."  
  
"What? Who's Maita Rei?" Aya poked her brother in the ribs.  
  
"The cashier at the chocolate shop. She says to keep your aura hidden outside Seishiro. I dunno why though."  
  
Yuki answered that, "That's because the heads put a spell on the place that no one outside Seishiro can sense any auras inside Seishiro. And only people we trust are allowed on the island."  
  
They all put their names on the form, except for Sen, who couldn't go because she didn't have magic. There was also another form, for a four-day event that was called Fight to the Last. This happened every year, sixteen students were put into a virtual reality stadium in pairs and every round, the number was slashed in half. On the first day, there was a trial run where all sixteen were put together and they fought until one was left standing (this is virtual reality. Once someone was 'killed', he/she would be disconnected, so they're not really dead), and the first round where they were put together and they fought until eight were left. On the second day, the numbers were slashed by half again. Then on the third day, only two were left. On the last day, those two would go against each other. There was only one stop left and Aya was already scribbling her name on. The rest gaped at her, and Tsuki spoke up, "What the hell do you think you're doing? Freshmen don't sign up for the Fight!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"They're not strong enough, that's why. Don't you realize that out of the fifteen there, only three are juniors? The rest are seniors! Even the sophomores are too scared! What makes YOU think you'll make it through the first round?"  
  
"You'll never know if you don't go, mon cherie." Aya shrugged it off, "Are we late for assembly?"  
  
Tsuki snapped, "Don't 'mon cherie' me. I HATE that name." as Aoi sighed in exasperation, "Use your brain, dearest best pal o' mine. You stopped time, remember?"  
  
"Oh, yeah."  
  
They stared at each other blankly for a while and Aoi asked, "Well, aren't you gonna move them back?"  
  
Aya looked to the still crowd and back at her friends. Then she grinned, shutting her eyes tight and shaking her head, "Nah."  
  
They walked on to the auditorium and as they were rounding the corner, Aya snapped her fingers, removing the spell and starting time again, leaving a confused crowd behind them.  
  
At assembly, they took their usual places in the back of the auditorium as Sakura, Syaoran and Eriol took centre stage. Their poor confused victims then rushed through the vast doors and went to their seats, making them laugh. Sakura opened her mouth to speak as the students quietened, "Ohayou, minna-san. Today, we have some announcements to make, that I'm sure everyone already knows about."  
  
Eriol picked up where she left off, "I see that the forms are already filled up. For the exchange programme to Singapore, the first ten who signed up will go. Then, out of these ten, five will be randomly selected to go to England. After the Singapore trip, we'll come back for a day and then go to England. During both these trips, the three of us will be with you at all times. Those who are going are Sugimori Hideki, Sugimori Hideko, Lee Aya, Lee Aki, Li Aoi, Maita Rei, Matsuki Ichiro, Watabe Taro, Fujita Eri and Saeki Aiko."  
  
Syaoran started, "About this year's fight, will Lee Aya, Ishida Nanami, Daishi Koji, Eda Sadao, Sakurai Natsuko, Sakurai Natsumi, Mizuno Toyoaki, Murasaki Keisuke, Sakamoto Naomi, Shiraishi Keiko, Sato Kenji, Tsujimoto Toki, Ochira Yu, Maita Rei, Maeda Yoshi and Hiro Shun stay back after this, the rest are dismissed."  
  
Whispers filled the air as everyone stared at the freshman walking down the aisle up to the stage while filing out of the auditorium.  
  
Soon, Eriol, Syaoran, Sakura and the students were the only ones left. Syaoran cleared his throat, "I'm sure most of you should know the rules by now, but for those who don't, here they are. You'll each be given a white flag and if you want to forfeit the round, you can do so by sticking it in the ground and you'll be immune, though immobile until we get you disconnected. You can use any weapon you can carry into the stadium, and it is advised not to bring too many, as if you drop anything, others can pick it up and use it. Only weapons and spells of mass destruction are not allowed. Um," Syaoran smiled sheepishly, "That's about as much as I can remember right now, and if anymore rules surface, we'll notify you. Any questions?"  
  
A redheaded boy raised his hand. Syaoran gestured towards him, "Yes, Tsujimoto-san?"  
  
His eyes flared angrily as he pointed accusingly at Aya, "Yeah, why is SHE allowed to take part?"  
  
"Is there any problem with Aya-san taking part?"  
  
"Of course. She's only a freshman, she's not strong enough!"  
  
"And you would know that how? I'm not taking sides here, but in most places, this would be called age discrimination. You're not exactly at the top of your sorcery class, and there are still full-grown sorcerers out there who are not as strong as you."  
  
"Yeah? I don't care. I still think she's not strong enough. Anyone who runs out of the lunchroom crying on the slightest hint of home wouldn't be."  
  
The final vein popped, to join the other hundreds as Aya grabbed his collar, throwing him across the stage, crashing him into some props from the previous year's school play. Eriol put his hand on Aya's shoulder and gave her as stern a look as he could manage with the mischievous glint in his eye. He never really DID like Tsujimoto Toki, you see. "Aya-san, lift him out of that mess please."  
  
She scowled, her eyes betraying her want to laugh as loud as she can, and raised a hand to levitate him out of the mess.  
  
As they walked out, Sakura approached Aya, "Are you sure you want to do this? He was right you know. The average freshman isn't strong enough for the Fight."  
  
"Ah, but you said AVERAGE. I could be above average, for anyone could know. But then again, you'll never know if don't go."  
  
"I hope you're right. I have a feeling you don't know when all these things you signed up for are."  
  
Aya grinned, "You're right."  
  
"Well, the Fight is from the 19th to the 22nd of September, next week Wednesday to Saturday. We leave for Singapore on the next Wednesday night. Then, we'll come back on Saturday, stay here for Sunday and leave the next morning."  
  
"Ok. And after that, we'll be in England for the rest of the year?"  
  
"Yah."  
  
"Ok."  
  
Aya got to class and when she got to her seat, the first thing said to her was, "You tossed our star wrestler across the stage?"  
  
Yayz. My friend's starting to get impatient, so I'll just leave off here and get on with it, k? 


	8. I am here to chew bubblegum and kick ass

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (.) - My daft self . - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 7: The Fight preliminary round*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
Aya got to class and when she got to her seat, the first thing said to her was, "You tossed our star wrestler across the stage?"  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
Wednesday came, and there was no school from then to the next week. So, Elle dragged Aya bright and early into her room to do the final touch-ups on her costume. Much as Aya wanted to, she couldn't scream, kick, curse, swear or protest at this, as it was compulsory to have a costume. Instead, she made up for it by sulking in her underwear, a slightly low-cut cross- back today, on Elle's bed drowning her sorrows in 10 pints of chocolate ice cream as Elle hummed happily at her sewing machine.  
  
There was a knock on the door. Aoi's voice came, "Hey girls, Tsuki wants me to remind you that you're gonna be late in roughly half an hour."  
  
Elle looked between Aya and the door, with a mischievous glint in her eye, and then called out, "We can't hear you! Come in and tell us."  
  
The door cracked open as Aya realized what Elle was doing and glared at her over her ice cream, as the latter smiled sweetly and innocently at her. Aoi's face came into view and he immediately noticed the almost-naked girl on the bed. His face turned red and he dashed out of the room slamming the door behind him, "G- Gomen nasai!!"  
  
Elle giggled and got glared at again. Aya shouted, "Ah, wup ass! I'm as naked as I'll be in a swimsuit. Don't be an asshole. And we heard what you said. Elle just wanted to have some fun. Now go down and get me more ice cream."  
  
The reply came, "Fat chance! And Elle, go to hell."  
  
*After a while*  
  
A very grumpy Aya emerged from the room in a dark red and black two-toned lace-up tank top that was cut just above her midriff, exposing every single inch of black material stretched over her stomach, a pair of black low cut slightly worn jeans and her hair pulled into a tight braid (like Lara Croft's, you know, with several strands sticking out) being dragged along by a very starry-eyed Elle.  
  
Ken, not knowing the meaning of the word 'Die', wanted to have some fun by letting loose a few wolf-whistles and cat calls, getting himself almost glared to death.  
  
They walked down the street and ran into Rei, Natsuko and Natsumi. The twins (Duh, Natsuko and Natsumi) gave Aya a high-five each, "Cool costume, Lee-san."  
  
They all continued walking to the school together and Rei fell back to join Aya, "Hey. I'm Maita Rei. You're that girl from the airport, right?"  
  
"Yup. Lee Aya, as you should already know."  
  
"Yeah. You've made quite a name for yourself by joining the Fight."  
  
"I know. It's positively sickening, the attention people give you. You're lucky, Maita-san. People don't find it strange when juniors join the Fight."  
  
"Please, call me Rei. And yes, I suppose I AM lucky."  
  
"Then call me Aya."  
  
They were silent for the rest of the walk as the contestants walked towards the sorcery classroom, which was completely mirrored (like that room Aoi changed the Cards in), and the rest went off to auditorium to enjoy the show, after wishing their friends good luck. In the room, the seniors stuck together, whispering and pointing as Aya walked into the room, but quickly shut up as she glared. There was now a large machine in the middle of the room. Everyone drifted off to do their own preparation. Aya out her sports bag down in a corner and took a holster out and put it on (You know, the type that you put around your body, not your waist). She then released her two pistols (all her weapons and some of her spells are 'sealed' in those little red marble thingies, like the cards are sealed in the cards), checked that they were fully loaded and placed them in the holsters, before leaning against the wall and closing her eyes to rest for a while before the preliminary round started.  
  
She sensed an aura coming towards her and opened her eyes and found herself face to face with Toki, who spoke, "You'll be the first to fall, you hear me, Aya?"  
  
Then, he found a glob of spit between his eyes, trickling down his nose, "Fat, f***ing chance. And it's Lee-san to you."  
  
He was about to punch her as the door opened and the three heads walked in. He glared at her, wiping the spit from his face, stalking off, and got glared back even harder.  
  
Aya fastened her pouch around her waist, magically shortening the string, as Syaoran spoke, "The preliminary round will not be counted, as it is mainly meant for warm-up. It will begin as soon as we get you hooked up to the machine and connected."  
  
People picked up varying weapons, mostly swords, and Aya released her own sword, a long, light and thin, though strangely strong, variation of some of the others' in the room.  
  
She sat cross-legged holding her sword east of the machine, with Rei sitting next to her at north east east (or is it east east north?) giving her an encouraging smile, which was returned.  
  
A headpiece was put on each of them (Like Meia's in Vandread) and they found themselves on a perfectly circular island, large, but at the same time, small enough such that if you stood in the centre, you could JUST see a hint of blue going around the edges.  
  
Aya stood there, still and alone as the heads' mega-magnified faces appeared hovering in front of her, "May the preliminary round begin now." They dematerialised as the other contestants appeared around her. Aya gave her sword a swing as she leapt backwards, to avoid the tip of Toki's sword. She blocked a few more attacks from him, moving further and further backwards, in a circle, to avoid being pushed into the sea, not using her full energy, like she new Toki was. He cursed and swore at her as his attacks became increasingly sloppy. A while later, Aya thought it was the right time to strike and turned on him not exactly full force, but fuller force. The offence and defence switched back and forth constantly, such that it was impossible to see who had the advantage, but Toki was exhausted and Aya leapt backwards, drawing one of her pistols in her spare hand and shot him in the head, killing him. His 'corpse' dematerialised as he was sent out of the room to the auditorium to watch the show, cursing.  
  
Aya went on, switching weapons constantly, from her pistols, to spells, to her dagger, whips, and who knows what else, gradually eliminating her opponents one by one. Rei was doing as well, and soon, it was only them and the twins left. The twins had fought together as a team, Natsuko specializing in magic and Natsumi specializing in physical attack, and they fought as one. Aya and Rei backed up against each other, as the twins circled them. Aya whispered over, "You handle Natsumi. I can erect a shield strong enough to deflect all of Natsuko's attacks, k?"  
  
"Wakarimashita."  
  
"On three."  
  
Then together, they yelled, "Three!"  
  
Aya immediately raised a shield and ran straight for Natsuko. But little did she know, Natsuko never felt the need to release her most powerful, though energy-costing, attack. Natsuko sent a strong blast of water, combined with ki, at the heart of Aya's shield and the shield fell, sending Aya flying through the air. She was about to release another attack when Aya leapt behind a section of raised earth, the result of one of the previous battles, clutching her sword tightly, thinking rapidly. She peeked out from behind her block, and was jerked back by Rei who had already defeated her opponent, narrowly being missed. Aya turned to face her friend, "Bloody hell, that girl's good. She stole my strategy godammit!!"  
  
"What may that be?"  
  
"Save the best for last." said Aya proudly, grinning.  
  
"Good for you then. At least you got one. But now is NOT the time to mope about stolen belongings. Now, what can defeat water?"  
  
Aya sifted through her brain, "ARGH!! I know this! I know this! Um, the five elements, huo mu tu jin shui, huo mu tu jin shui, huo mu tu...JIN!"  
  
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand Chinese."  
  
"JIN! JIN! Metal! Cold! Hard! Metal!"  
  
She stood up and sliced through the stream of water, splitting it in two making it dematerialise as she ran towards her opponent, keeping her sword steady in the middle of the stream of water. As she drew closer, Natsuko screamed and turned tail and Aya skewered her opponent, and Natsuko dematerialised.  
  
Rei got up from their hiding place and they walked towards each other, poised for a fight. Rei spoke, "It's hard to fight your enemies."  
  
Aya continued, "But it's harder to fight your friends."  
  
They charged towards each other and metal clashed with metal. The advantage switched back and forth, back and forth, and those watching from the auditorium watched as the two girls fought it out. Rei stabbed forwards as Aya moved backwards, making the sword miss its mark. Instead, the tip of the sword pierced through the string that held Aya's top together, making it snap and the front fell apart, making it hang from her shoulders like a vest.  
  
Aya grinned, slipping the torn garment off. "Ok, NOW you're dead, whether I kill you or Elle. That happened to be my whole day's outfit."  
  
Her back arched and a ki ball formed between her palms and as she drew her hands apart, it grew larger. She burst forwards and the ki ball shot into Rei's chest, throwing her into the water. Immediately after Rei opened her eyes, she saw the barrel of a Smith & Wesson pointing straight at her face. There was a click as the safety went off. "Gomen nasai, Rei-san."  
  
"Cut the -san and the world will be a happier place."  
  
The gunshot rang through the air and the two of them were transported to the classroom. The gang was there to congratulate her on winning the prelims. Yong Li threw her arms around her friend and hugged her tight, screaming, "You won! You won!"  
  
Aya tore herself from her friend's arms, "No. I have NOT won. Not yet. That was just the prelims. Those weren't even counted. And Aoi?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Now that we've confirmed the side-effects, I could use a little help here." Then she collapsed, exhausted.  
  
See, sea-dragon? THAT'S why I had to push back your entrance. Pretty cool huh? I'm not that good at fight scenes but heck. Here's another site to go to: It's my cousin's site. Damn funny. Just remember that in the White Room, the doors are links and in the Stupid Stuff section or wuteva it's called, 6 out of the 9 round Pacman-like things are links. 


	9. Everytime my wife has an accident in the...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (.) - My daft self . - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
Hey sad bunny, I KNOW it's confusing. Hahaz. I guess you're just stupid enough not to be able to figure things out. Of course, if you're here reading this, it probably means that you managed to figure it out, making my previous comment inapplicable, but you're still a sad bunny. ^^  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 8: The Fight round 1*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
"Now that we've confirmed the side-effects, I could use a little help here." Then she collapsed, exhausted.  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
Aoi passed some energy to Aya, recharging her. It turned out that Elle, like her mother always was, was prepared for something like this to happen. Aya put on the red and black two-toned denim jacket Elle passed her and downed the 1.5 litre bottle of coffee. And fell asleep.  
  
Afternoon rolled around and Aya was rudely awakened from her sleep by a passing foot, namely Hideki's. She released her whip and caught his foot with it, then yanked, making him fall. He glared at her, "Just in case you wanna know, the next event starts in two minutes."  
  
"EEP!" She leapt up and checked her weapons, reloading her guns. She moved to sit back where she was and felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw Rei, "Aya, be on your guard."  
  
"Um, ok, I will?"  
  
"They're planning to gang up against you - the seniors, Natsuko-san and Natsumi-san. Be on your guard."  
  
"But why?"  
  
"Because you emerged champion of the prelims, which just about secures you one of the minor prizes as well, namely the Jack the Ripper title. You get to keep the title for the rest of the year. Only one Jack the Ripper wasn't the prelims champ, but that was because the prelims champ won by a fluke, and didn't make it through round one."  
  
"It is REALLY that big a deal?"  
  
"Yes, DUH. Each one of those titles is highly coveted, ridiculous as they sound. The heads came up with them for fun, so that maybe the others had a chance to have some sort of recognition, especially the better ones who deserved it. After that, we just added some of the more ridiculous ones, for fun."  
  
"And laughter, peace and joy. So what? What are they, anyway?"  
  
"Jack the Ripper, Slacker, those are the ridiculous ones. Then, there's prelims champ, and there's the Round One champ, who kills the most people in round one, oh and there's the last one, another stupid one, The Pro. That's the one who uses the widest range of weaponry and spells. I think you've already secured three of those."  
  
"What may those be?"  
  
"Prelims champ, THAT'S for sure. The Pro and Jack the Ripper."  
  
"We'll see. We'll see."  
  
They sat where they did last time. Aya stood, poised and ready to fight the moment the others appeared. The heads' heads appeared and Syaoran spoke, "Round one is about to begin, in three, two, one." They dematerialised and Aya leapt backwards, throwing out two spinning metal fans (she calls them her Youkai no Ogi or Demon's fans, after this referred to as her ogi) to her sides and they formed a sphere around her, blocking the onslaught of attacks that were planned beforehand. Rei watched from the outside as she flinched with each attack. Natsuko let loose a few strong streams of water from every direction, making Aya almost scream in pain as the shield shrank considerably. Rei screamed out and dashed forwards, her sword raised, ready to help out her friend.  
  
But Natsuko and Natsumi tackled her to the ground. That started a tussle between the three girls, which didn't seem to be ending very soon. Aya noticed this and yelled, "Leave her alone! If you want me, come and get me. I don't know why you hate me so much but I'm pretty sure she has nothing to do with it."  
  
"She wants to get involved, let her."  
  
Natsuko looked between Aya and Rei and smiled menacingly. As her sister pinned their victim to the ground, she pressed a hand to her classmate's face, sending electric shocks through her. Gradually, the pain became so great that she submitted to unconsciousness.  
  
Toki then turned to the girl still in the sphere, "Well, one down, seven to go, and I'll damn sure that you're number two."  
  
Something in Aya snapped when Rei fell. She hated seeing people close to her suffer because of her or not. But she still played it cool, making the anger within her hidden, "No. She's not dead yet, and she hasn't forfeited. So you've still got eight to go."  
  
"Oh yeah? Then you'll be number one. Now it's all about coaxing you out of your little shell so we can kill you."  
  
"That won't be so easy."  
  
"Well, we can pass the time by having a little chat. Maybe I'll get to know you better and find something I could use against you."  
  
"Fat hope."  
  
Toki ignored this comment, "So, what can we talk about. Oh yes. Why not the one thing we all have in common? What do you think of this place?"  
  
She just glared, keeping the shield as strong as ever.  
  
"No? Then we'll try negotiations. How about we take turns one on one? How about that?"  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"I'll swear that I won't let anyone ambush you while someone else is fighting."  
  
"Ok." She glared at the rest of them who backed off, and dropped the shield. Toki then nodded at one of his fellow seniors who stepped forward, swinging his sword.  
  
She held her ogi, poised and ready to strike, "You really want to know what I like about this place?"  
  
Silence came as a reply as she and her opponent charged towards each other. "This is a place," She let a stab slide through the panels of one fan, flipping it, disarming her opponent then using the other to slit his throat and a girl stepped forward as he fell with two swords this time. The ogi disappeared and Aya drew a gun.  
  
"Where everything goes." She took aim, and fired a hole through her opponent's head. A boy took her place, this time with TWO swords. Aya re- holstered the gun and a ki bow and arrow appeared in her hands.  
  
"No teachers," She released the arrow, which burst through everything in its way, finally hitting its mark, killing him. A girl got into a fighting stance, and Aya smirked as everything disappeared.  
  
"No rules," The girl charged and Aya teleported behind her, raising her leg and hooking it around the girl's neck, squeezing tight and thus, breaking it. A boy stepped forward this time, waving a thick heavy sword about.  
  
"No permanent records." She blocked an attack and they found themselves inches apart, though with a gun barrel pressed to his stomach. She fired once, twice, thrice, he was gone. Another boy stepped up, with a fireball hovering above his palm.  
  
"Just me," He threw it, and she dodged. Guessing that his element was fire, and thus was weak against water, she sent a stream of water flying at him and soon he was immobile long enough for her to shoot him. A girl this time. She was armed with a pair of daggers. Aya smiled and thought, 'Fight fire with fire' and released a dagger of her own.  
  
"And everyone else," She teleported behind her opponent once again and stabbed, twisting it agonisingly, forcing her to collapse and stick her flag in the ground. The last one. Another boy, shaking with fear, grasping to the handle of his sword so tight, his knuckles were blue. She smiled and released her Smith & Wesson.  
  
"Who stands in my way." She parried a blow with the gun and twisted to the side before shooting a hole in one ear and out the other.  
  
They were teleported out back to the room where they started and Rei burst forth to hug her friend, "EEP! I KNEW IT I KNEW IT!"  
  
"Knew what? And seriously, do you mind if I breathe?"  
  
Rei loosened her hold, "I knew that you'd win the round! THAT'S what I knew."  
  
"And HOW exactly did you know that?"  
  
"I don't know. I just knew. And here come your friends."  
  
They turned to look at the door and saw the gang burst through it, crowding her with high fives and congratulations.  
  
*Later on*  
  
They were having a party at Aya and Aki's place to celebrate. Well, WERE. Now, there was nothing to do. Aoi then hopped up, "I just remembered something."  
  
Tsuki gave her brother a groggy, "What?"  
  
"Aya sings."  
  
"I do?"  
  
"You told me that you composed some songs, didn't you?"  
  
"Yeah so?"  
  
"Well, sing."  
  
"What? Now? Please. I'm seriously sleepy and I still gotta fight tomorrow."  
  
Aoi turned on the puppy eyes he'd learnt from his mother, "Please? Just one song."  
  
She sighed, "Fine. 'S long 's you wipe that look off your face."  
  
"Fine then," he cleared his throat, "And presenting the one and only, Aya!"  
  
He got glared at, but she sang anyway.  
  
moshi mo ima subete ga umaku nante ikanai  
  
makesou ni naru toki datte  
  
hitomi o tojireba kokoro kara  
  
sekai ga miete kuru  
  
In this world where life can be so tough, you must be strong  
  
Just believe in yourself and don't you fear  
  
So open up your mind and close your eyes  
  
Take another look from the other side  
  
kodoku na yoru demo mayoi osoreru toki mo  
  
ima wa hitori demo kono ashi de doko made mo  
  
aruite ikeru hazu dakara  
  
Just hold on tight hitomi tojita nara  
  
Look inside yourself kodou kanjiru kara  
  
Yes subete shinjite hoshii  
  
You can take another look from the other side  
  
Just hold on tight kokoro kujikete mo  
  
Reach into your soul ashita ga mienakute mo  
  
Yes ikiru tsuyosa ga areba  
  
You can take another look from the other side  
  
ai no subete ni deau made  
  
They clapped and cheered, but got so carried away, they didn't notice that she was already halfway up the stairs. Kei yelled, "Hey! Where're you going? That was great! Sing again!"  
  
"NO! I'm sleepy, I wanna sleep! So GOOD! NIGHT!"  
  
She slammed the door behind, leaving the noise behind her. Not bothered to climb all the way up to her bed, she unfolded the futon and collapsed onto it, curling up in the blankets and drifting off to sleep.  
  
Done, done, done. That song was Open Up Your Mind by Mirai, from Gensomaden Saiyuki, if you wanted to know. And I know the site didn't show up last chapter, so I'll just explain it in a way that's less likely not to show up. It is my cousin's website. Her geocities username is screamingpsychodoodles, so you type 'http -colon- -slash- -slash- www -dot- geocities -dot- com -slash- screamingpsychodoodles -slash-' Got that? Good. Ok. I had something to say but can't remember. Oh yes, here it is. I know that this story is very confusing, and reviews are probably out of the question. So, I'm being less picky. Instead I don't mind criticisms and flames, so long as it's ANYTHING!! I'M DESPERATE!! 


	10. The sign said, STOP, LOOK, LISTEN and wh...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (.) - My daft self - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 9: The Fight round 2*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
She slammed the door behind, leaving the noise behind her. Not bothered to climb all the way up to her bed, she unfolded the futon and collapsed onto it, curling up in the blankets and drifting off to sleep.  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
Aki tried shaking his sister up but to no avail. So, plan B. He shouted into her ear, "WAKE UP! ROUND TWO STARTED TWO HOURS AGO!"  
  
She started screaming non-stop, so Aki whacked her over the head with one of his Harisens. "CHILL. It DIDN'T start two hours ago. It's starting in two hours at any rate, but you've still gotta get up."  
  
She buried herself into her futon and whined, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!"  
  
So, he just peeled the blanket away, lifting her up on his shoulder, before marching out, down the stairs, out the door. Thank GOD Elle's was only a few blocks away and there was no one to stare at them, the kids all being at Elle's and the adults at the school checking the equipment.  
  
He shot his way through the door (he's got a Smith & Wesson k? Yes, I've got an obsession with Smith & Wessons. Especially spirit-ascending Smith & Wessons) carrying a kicking, screaming girl on his shoulder. He dumped her on the thankfully carpeted floor and collapsed onto the armchair, flexing his sore arm. That is until he realised that there were some muffled screams coming from his ass. He got up and saw a VERY grumpy Kero.  
  
Tsuki suppressed some giggles and said, "Um, Kero, this is Aki. Aki, this is Kero. The false form of the Guardian Beast of the Seal."  
  
They glared at each other, until Aki decided it was pointless and pointed his Smith & Wesson at the point directly between Kero's two beady eyes. Kero glared and proceeded to attack the takoyaki on the table. Aya noticed the furry yellow thing eating takoyaki on the table, leapt up screaming, "KAWAII!", grabbed Kero off the table, cuddling him a bit too tight for his liking, and at the same time shovelling the remaining takoyaki into her mouth.  
  
When she was done with the takoyaki, Kero stared at the empty plate and screamed, "TAKOYAKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~!!!!!"  
  
He proceeded to turn into his true form in her arms. She let go and rolled backwards, releasing her two pistols pointing them at Kero. He sighed, "Geez! What IS it with guns and kids these days?"  
  
"Well, I'll be more than willing to put them down if there wasn't a chance of an over-grown winged pussy cat attacking me."  
  
"Who're you calling an over-grown winged..." He stared at the gun barrel pointed straight at him.  
  
"Look. I think we got off on the wrong foot. It's just that I haven't had takoyaki in such a looooooooooooooooooooooong~ time. How about I ransack Elle's kitchen and make you a bento, I'm pretty good at that."  
  
Kero returned to his false form and grabbed her collar dragging her along, "Then what're you waiting for?"  
  
*A while later*  
  
Kero was happily digging into his bento as Aya peeled off the bloody jacket and jeans. Elle screwed her face up, "Ew. What DID you do to those people anyway?"  
  
"You saw it for yourself."  
  
Elle stuck her under a cold shower, much to her protest, to wash off the blood that had dried onto her skin. She then used a spell to dry her off and passed her some clothes.  
  
She emerged downstairs later in ANOTHER pair of red jeans, the cross back from yesterday and a red windbreaker wailing, "I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'M GONNA DIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE~!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Aoi asked, "Why?"  
  
"Fifty minutes more and I'M STILL SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPY~!!"  
  
"I'll pass you some energy later on, k?"  
  
She leapt up and glomped him, "THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOOUU~!!!!!!!!"  
  
*At the school*  
  
They were in the sorcery classroom and Aya was wailing again. Apparently, she was STILL sleepy.  
  
"Hey I've already passed you as much energy as you'll let me. Quit wailing will ya? I'll be deaf before I'm twenty."  
  
" But I'm gonna DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~!!!!!!!!!"  
  
He thought for a while, "Maybe you're not. Repeat those side effects again."  
  
"Um, well, there's the mental link, you and I may be able to use each other's magic..."  
  
"That's it. How can we confirm this? If I pass you the cards, you can use them and I'll be the one losing energy, not you."  
  
"Hmm, maybe." She passed him one of her guns, "The trigger won't budge for anyone but me. Try it."  
  
"What am I gonna try it on? Seriously. I can't jolly well shoot anything I jolly well like."  
  
She erected a small shield and said, "Shoot that. The shell will stop there and drop to the ground and the ki inside will be absorbed."  
  
He aimed and fired. People turned but quickly returned to their own activities.  
  
"WEEEEEEEEEEE~!! IT WORKS IT WORKS IT WOOOOOOOOOOORKS~!!! YAY!!! I'm NOT DEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAD~!!!!!!!!!!" Aya shrieked in mirth.  
  
It was time for them to get the hell out of the room and Aya's friends bid her good luck as Aoi passed her the cards. The number of headpieces had been reduced from sixteen to eight, and Aya remained at east, Rei sitting beside her at northeast.  
  
They appeared in the same world and went through the same process as yesterday. Apparently, there had been a change of plan. This time, five of them ambushed her - Natsuko, Natsumi and three other seniors. Toki kept Rei at bay, so she couldn't help Aya.  
  
Then, she surprised them all. She took the Shield out and tapped it with her sword, "Shield, release and dispel!"  
  
They attacked the Shield and Aya knew she couldn't keep this up, as Aoi would probably collapse soon. So, she released Mirror and Sword, returning Shield. She took on Natsuko, Natsumi and one senior as Mirror took on the other two.  
  
She parried blow after blow while using her ogi to block Natsuko's attacks. The senior fell first, then Natsuko and Natsumi started a spell to charge up Natsumi's sword. Aya took this chance and shot Natsuko before going off to help Mirror, who had so far only been able to fend off the two seniors. Distracted by Mirror, they didn't notice when Aya turned the safety off on her Smith & Wesson. Two shots and both went down.  
  
They reappeared in the classroom and removed the headpieces. The first thing Aya noticed was Natsuko glaring at her. Then, she realised something. Her friends hadn't ambushed her yet. She looked around. They weren't even there. She looked up at Sakura who replied, "They aren't allowed in yet."  
  
Syaoran said, "Will all leave the room except for Lee Aya, Sakurai Natsumi, Maita Rei and Tsujimoto Toki."  
  
They left and Eriol spoke, "We're keeping you here to present you a proposition. You should know that as planned, tomorrow will be Round 3 and Round 4 & the prize presentation will be on Saturday. But, we are willing to let you decide if you want to have Round 3 later today and let Round 4 and the presentation be tomorrow."  
  
Natsumi and Toki looked to each other, thinking that Aya burned all her energy using the three cards and asked, "How are we gonna decide?"  
  
"A vote, perhaps. So, those in favour of bringing forward Round 3, raise your hands."  
  
Natsumi and Toki's hands shot up immediately. Aya scowled and them and grunting, raised her hand too.  
  
Sakura clapped her hands together, "Okay, that's settled then. In round 3, you will be paired up and the pairs will be Maita Rei & Lee Aya and Tsujimoto Toki & Sakurai Natsumi."  
  
WEEZ~!!! I FINALLY BOUGHT SAIYUKI 1!!! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~!!!! Saiyuki Reload 2 still not out though. Humph. 


	11. How'd you manage to do your hair so the ...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (.) - My daft self - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 10: The Fight round 3*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
Sakura clapped her hands together, "Okay, that's settled then. In round 3, you will be paired up and the pairs will be Maita Rei & Lee Aya and Tsujimoto Toki & Sakurai Natsumi."  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
Later that day, Aya discarded the bloodied jacket and sat down where she always sat, east. Rei was no longer beside her as partners were required to sit opposite each other.  
  
Syaoran added a bit more to his usual "Round =insert number= begins now" speech. Basically, this was kinda like tag team competitions. A circle was drawn on the floor and that was the 'ring'. At any point of time, they were allowed to tap out and switch. Strangely enough, there weren't any spells to stop the other person from jumping in.  
  
First up were Toki and Aya. Aya was barely able to block a blow to her head from her opponent, driven by revenge (it was a blow to his reputation when he was the first to go down in the prelims, especially when he was brought down by the girl he promised would bring down first).  
  
Slowly, they fought, equally matched. Much further into the fight, Aya had a gash in her stomach, a stab in the leg, a slash on her arm and uncountable bruises, sprains & concussions. Toki wasn't spared the injury giveaway. He managed to get away with a stab that just missed his vital organs, though it was still gushing with blood, a cut on his forehead, a broken nose, a broken arm and just as many bruises & sprains. But in terms of energy, Aya was in a worse situation.  
  
A kick when she was distracted brought her to the floor and immediately after, there was a sword sticking through her chest. She blacked out in time to see Rei jump into the ring and stick HER sword through his back.  
  
*In the sorcery classroom*  
  
Touya, Nakuru and Yukito were visiting from the mainland to watch the competition. (They haven't meant Aya and Aki yet. They hold down the fort at the Tokyo office while Syaoran was at Seishiro) Syaoran, Sakura and Eriol had to go to the auditorium to stop the rioting that started when Aya's energy level started going down and assigned the three to watch the contestants. They were told what to do when one of them died. Yukito was watching Toki, Nakuru was watching Rei and Natsumi and Touya was watching Aya.  
  
Touya watched Aya's energy go further and further down (Oh, btw, their energy levels when they come back to the real world will be what it is just before they die) until when it was almost zero, it dropped and the blinking red light went off.  
  
(Toki dies around now, but not many notice)  
  
When he tore the headpiece off and she fell limp into his arms, practically gasping for air. He asked her, "Can you stand?"  
  
(Now, Toki's walking off to the auditorium cursing swearing and screaming. Remember, he had a great deal more energy when he was killed than when Aya did when she was)  
  
He passed her his hand for support as she tried to stand. She'd barely made it as she fell again. She gripped tighter on his hand, as her breathing became more laboured. He turned to Yukito, "Yukito, do me a favour and get Sakura, the freak and the gaki."  
  
Yukito nodded and ran out. When he got to the auditorium, he told Sakura, "One of them's too low on energy."  
  
"Which one?"  
  
"East."  
  
"Aya." she tapped Syaoran & Eriol on the shoulder and yelled to her son, "Aoi!"  
  
The five made their way to the nurse's office where Touya had brought Aya and found Chiharu tending to her while Touya leant against the wall.  
  
Aoi sighed and mumbled something like, "Darn side effects. Why me?"  
  
He felt around in her pouch and finally found the right spell. Soon Aya was completely recharged and on her way to the auditorium before anyone could catch up.  
  
She burst through the doors and found a very bored crowd with a very sulky Toki and Natsumi. Soon she was bombarded by Rei, "WE WON! AYA, WE WON!"  
  
She was knocked down to the ground as the rest of her friends joined in the group glomp.  
  
*tonight*  
  
They'd had dinner at the Li's and were introduced to Nakuru, Yukito and Touya. After dinner, Syaoran went behind the bar and started taking orders. Aya was a bit surprised and asked, "I thought it was illegal for under-18s to drink."  
  
Kara winked, "It's not like anyone'll know, ne?"  
  
Aya grinned, "A bottle then."  
  
Syaoran raised his eyebrows, "A bottle of what?"  
  
"Sake, of course. Undiluted. Diluted is too weak."  
  
She then noticed the others staring at her, some with their jaws caressing the floor, except, as usual Aki, "What?"  
  
Syaoran spoke up from behind the bar, "Um, are you sure?"  
  
"Duh, I'm sure. Don't worry. I won't get drunk."  
  
"Whatever you say." He picked a bottle from the cupboard and threw it. She caught it, pulled the cork out and started drinking.  
  
Some of them looked at her brother, "You STILL haven't noticed. Goodness, you people are slow. ANYTHING'S possible with Aya, although to tell the truth, I think the only thing close to alcohol she ever ate or drank were fermented grapes. As far as I know, anyway."  
  
Aya interrupted them, "I suddenly wish that Tsujimoto-san and Sakurai-san'd won instead."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Then I wouldn't have to fight Rei. I seriously don't think that I'll be able to fight her. I never was good at fighting my friends."  
  
Aki placed a hand on his sister's shoulder, "Don't worry. I think she'll want you to cut her any slack. She'll probably be giving it her all, anyway."  
  
"But even if I gave it my all, she knows me too well."  
  
Aoi spoke up this time, "She puts most of her effort in her kicks and prefers agility and speed over brute force, like most girls. What your fighting style?"  
  
She grinned, "I fight Aya style."  
  
"Seriously?"  
  
"Yup. I don't like particular styles. Some forms can defeat others effectively."  
  
"Good choice, but what're you gonna do then?"  
  
Tsuki was the next one to raise a point, "Rei relies on seeking out a person's aura to find them. When they're in hiding, that is."  
  
Aya thought for a while, taking a few more swigs of her bottle, "That's it! What I can do is raise the earth a bit to create a sort of ring around her and hide behind for a while. Then I can use a non-magic attack. Of course, I'll have to hide my aura."  
  
Eriol spotted a mistake, "But there IS a spell to seek out people who've hidden their auras. It's extremely difficult and only a few people we know of can do it, and if I remember right, Maita-san was one of those particularly interested in it. The only loophole is that it lowers your defences extremely low."  
  
"I'll sleep on it. I'm sure I'll come up with something."  
  
She polished off a couple more bottles of sake, still was not, surprisingly, drunk, before Aki dragged her off home.  
  
Look. I know you people find this extremely confusing. I'm lucky if you even got this far to read this. I don't care whether you say things like you're an idiot in the reviews. Seriously, I do NOT want to be the only 20000 word fic with less than 10 reviews. So ONEGAI~!! R+R! 


	12. Only in America do banks have driveup AT...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (.) - My daft self - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 11: The Fight round 4*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
She polished off a couple more bottles of sake, still was not, surprisingly, drunk, before Aki dragged her off home.  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
Aya had begged Elle to for once not have any part in her appearance that day and succeeded. For once, she wasn't anything red OR black, thank god. She was in a blue-green sleeveless button down crop top with a Chinese style collar, big baggy blue jeans cut and frayed below the knee and off- white boots.  
  
Now, she was sitting slumped in the corner, nervous about her next battle. When Rei tapped her on the shoulder, she jumped, making her friend laugh, "Good luck. I'll be doing my best."  
  
She smiled back, "Yeah. You too."  
  
They heard Syaoran yell, "Two minutes!" and everyone walked to them, wishing them luck before exiting. Syaoran told them, "This time, you're only allowed one weapon. Choose and we'll hook you up."  
  
They both chose swords, and sat where they did the last round, Aya east and Rei west. The headpieces were on and the moment they laid eyes on each other, Rei didn't waste any time in attacking. She stabbed forward and Aya dodged. It was like that for a while, Rei attacking and Aya just hopping around, dodging.  
  
From outside, Aoi looked at them and told his sister, "She's never gonna get anywhere that way. But then again, neither will Rei."  
  
She replied, "But it IS a good non-offensive strategy. Rei may just start getting impatient and she won't fight as well as she could."  
  
When Aya finally felt that the fight wasn't getting anywhere, she started attacking herself, though it was obvious to the more perceptive that she was holding back. And it was fairly certain that her friend knew too.  
  
It continued that way for another half an hour, and Aoi was fed up, 'thinking', "What in the name of all things sacred do you think you're doing? Stop playing around and start the fight for heaven's sake. You know full well what to do. She's not treating you as a friend anymore. She's treating you as an enemy she's on good terms with. Now, get on it and just do it."  
  
Their swords clashed, and their faces were inches from each other. Aya mouthed, "Sumimasen."  
  
Rei knew what that meant, and her fears were confirmed when a ring of earth rose around them and Aya pushed away, back flipping behind it. She was about to get serious.  
  
Aya hid her aura and stayed behind the ring, catching her breath while she waited. She felt her opponent's aura turn this way and that, searching for her. Then she felt it weaken and the defences lower. Gulping, she vaulted over the ring and charged head on towards the girl in front of her. Rei finally honed in on her, but it was too late. Rei's eyes burst open and she gasped, but a second later, Aya had her left arm stuck through her.  
  
She whispered, smiling, "Congratulations. Now do you mind ending this? Having someone's arm through you isn't very comfortable."  
  
Aya's shirt was stained crimson, and her shoes weren't near off-white anymore. She swept her arm to her left, bursting through flesh, skin and vitals. Her arm dropped to her side, dripping with blood, as she was transported back to the mirrored room.  
  
The headpiece was off and Sakura asked, "Are you all right?"  
  
She stared into space for a while, silent, and then, still staring, "I am SO not doing that ever again."  
  
Just then, the gang burst through the doors, led by Elle, "See? This is what bloody happens when you try picking your own clothes. They get all bloody and LOOK all bloody."  
  
Rei stood up and walked towards Aya, "Well, at least she doesn't bring the blood back with her. Congrats again. You won fair and square."  
  
"I just wish never to have to do that ever again."  
  
"I don't think you'll have to, unless you join the fight again."  
  
"Damn. I forgot that it was ANNUAL. Then let it be someone like Toki who makes it to the finals then."  
  
They were walked to the auditorium, where Aya was presented the trophy. Sakura asked, "So, any words?"  
  
"No."  
  
Everyone laughed and Aya grinned, "The wonders of a monosyllabic answer. Actually, I DO have to thank a lot of people, but the list is too long. So I'll just thank the person I need to thank the most. She was my unofficial partner throughout the whole process except for today's round, and a great sport the whole time. Seriously, most friends would never forgive you if you went and stuck your arm through them, but she just walked up to me, smiled and said congrats. Of course, most friends won't live to forgive you or bear eternal grudge against you if you'd just your arm through them, but you get what I mean. So, thank you Rei, for being a great friend and a great enemy."  
  
The crowd cheered and Aya left the stage, met at the bottom by Aoi who seemed lost in her thoughts.  
  
"What's up? You look as if you're thinking, which I think is simply quite impossible."  
  
He smiled at her and gave her a playful punch on the arm, and then turned thoughtful again, "It was when Elle commented about your clothes. Then I started wondering. What DID happen to those swimsuit things, anyway?"  
  
She grinned, "Elle thought they restricted my wardrobe and the first thing she did just before the fight was drag me to the lingerie department of the closest mall mainland. Frankly, " she patted her bare tanned six-pack, "it feels pretty good to not have semi-plastic fabric stretched over your tummy for once."  
  
Aoi flushed as Elle rushed over, "AYA! There you are! I need to get you mainland, stat. I forgot that because round three was brought forward, the celebratory dance was too. I need to get you a dress NOW."  
  
Aya sighed, "Ditto EVERY SINGLE SYLLABLE from this morning."  
  
Elle scowled, "Fine."  
  
"Seriously, Elle. Why do you like this so much? The world isn't fair, I know, but I think I'm as good a stylist as you, if not a seamstress."  
  
Then a boy ran over, "Bad news Aoi. She's back."  
  
"Oh f***."  
  
"And she's bribed one of the peeps going for the Singapore trip to trade."  
  
"Damn it. Who?"  
  
"Saeki Aiko."  
  
"Damn, I'll twist her neck if I get the chance. How'd you know?"  
  
"She's on campus."  
  
"F***! Aya, we're for your treat. NOW."  
  
Aya shrugged, "S'long's it's a treat. Who's 'she', anyway?"  
  
"Shigeki Maaya. I'll explain later. Now, we go get our bags and LEAVE THIS PLACE."  
  
They stopped by Aya's locker first, grabbing her bag and then Aoi's, grabbing his. Aya stuffed his into hers, with the expanded inside, put it on, before hopping onto Aoi's back, for him to carry her to their favourite haunt. Well, trying, anyway.  
  
A hand grabbed the bag, yanking it backwards before letting go. Aya regained her balance in no time flat, and felt a horrible pink aura behind her. She turned, and punched its owner's nose, much to Aoi's amusement, "I see you've grown rusty in the States."  
  
The girl on the ground forgot immediately that she was lying on the floor & that her nose was bloody and fluttered her eyelids, "Oh, Aoi dearest. I was too busy thinking about you."  
  
Aya answered for him, "Good for you then. Now, if you don't mind, the winner of this year's Fight is going to get her treat with extra toppings."  
  
The girl picked herself up, before looking Aya up and down, before batting her eyelids again, "Oh Aoi. How COULD have been fooled by this scum? It's obvious she's just seducing you for your money. I won't because I've already GOT money."  
  
Aya laughed, "How could anyone think I'm with HIM of all people? I'd much prefer Gojyo. Anyway, I don't NEED his money. I'm currently one of the highest paid secretaries in Japan, the other being my brother, and even without that job, I'm still worth more as an individual than this guy here, having inherited half of the family fortune. And for your information, while you were off gallivanting in the States as a loose woman as you look to be, Aoi went and found himself a best friend. So now bugger off."  
  
She hopped onto Aoi's back and they left a very confused and flustered girl behind them. Aoi chuckled, "Well handled. And by the way, extra toppings?"  
  
"I won, so there. I deserve it."  
  
"Alright."  
  
"I assume that was Maaya?"  
  
"Yup. Unfortunately."  
  
"Too bad. Looks to me she's smitten."  
  
"Unfortunately."  
  
Their troubles weren't over yet. Maaya tracked their auras to the ice-cream parlour. Aya was re-reading Saiyuki Gaiden for the hundred and eighty- seventh time as she ate her sundae and Aoi was contentedly licking on his ice-cream cone.  
  
Which Maaya quite rudely picked out of his hand and began to lick, tossing a disgusted look at Aya, "My god. Aoi, how COULD you pick such a monstrosity for a friend? I thought your taste was excellent considering ME. But her? She reads for FUN."  
  
Aya glared, "Well at least I CAN read. And by the way, I doubt Aoi ever picked you. The world's unfair, I know, but that's the way it is. Don't go making false assumptions. You'll only make it worse. And now, I suggest you buy Aoi another cone before I make you, given that the one in your hand's already been desecrated."  
  
Maaya whined, "AOI! Make the evil girl stop!"  
  
Aya tossed her the coldest look she could scrounge up and snap her fingers. A credit card slipped out of Maaya's pocket and the girl squealed, given that it was all she could do taking into consideration the constriction spell put on her. It floated towards the kindly owner of the parlour and she said, "Another cone please."  
  
He smiled, "Right away. Nice spell there, by the way."  
  
"Thanks. Made it myself."  
  
He stared for a second and turned away, preparing the cone. He passed it to Aoi, who started licking it. Meanwhile, Maaya's card slipped back into her pocket, and suddenly she disappeared. Aoi stared at her, "Even YOU aren't at the level of teleportation yet. What'd you do?"  
  
"It wasn't teleportation. It's wrinkling. It involves a fourth dimension. I'll explain it some other time. Now it's time for sundae."  
  
As I did to Akai Youkai, my original fic which you should read, I accidentally did something to this and had to rewrite it. 


	13. No matter how good she looks, some other...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (.) - My daft self - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 12: The Dance*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
"It wasn't teleportation. It's wrinkling. It involves a fourth dimension. I'll explain it some other time. Now it's time for sundae."  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
That night, they were sitting in the living room of Aki and Aya's house, waiting for Aya. She had completely forgotten and was sound asleep when the rest got there, with Aki desperately trying to get her up. They watched for a while, until Yong Li got fed up and went into the kitchen, grabbing a bucket. She filled it with water and with a simple spell, turned it into slush. She marched back upstairs, looking somewhat ridiculous in her ankle- length silk gown and carrying a bucket of slush, and dumped it onto Aya's face.  
  
A piercing scream filled the air as Aya jolted up, drenched. Her friends clutched their ears, but Aki, somehow predicting what would happen, hid himself in the corner and stuck earplugs in his ears.  
  
Now, they had been sitting in the living room five minutes, but it felt like five millennia. Then Aya emerged from her room, in an ankle-length black silk cheongsam with a sheeny black phoenix climbing up the bottom left corner. Even with her 5-inch stilettos, she still managed to leap over the railing, landing on the first storey perfectly.  
  
As they strolled towards the school, Aya remembered something, "What's up with this Maaya person anyway?"  
  
Tsuki laughed, "Only that she's completely head over heels with my bro. She's also a complete bimbo and gets jealous of everything. She used to beat up every single girl who tried to flirt with Aoi and that's not very little. Anyhow, as I was saying, she beat them up, and that's why you haven't seen anyone try while you were here. But once word gets around that you beat the crap outta her, you're gonna have trouble keeping him to yourself."  
  
Aya smiled, "They're welcome to him. I don't need him all the time anyway."  
  
"Hey!"  
  
Then Tsuki continued, laughing, "And by the way, if you wanna know, Sugimori Hideki's totally in love with her."  
  
Aya asked, "Then why'd he try to hit on me that day?"  
  
"Because he's like that. While his beloved isn't in town, he flirts with the other girls and throws them away the moment she comes back."  
  
Elle grinned, "Anyone wanna see him ask her to the dance?"  
  
That's when Aya's eyes bulged and she tripped in shock. Aoi caught her, setting her upright again.  
  
They snapped around to face her and she took her camera from her bag. She switched it on and searched the memory for the right clip, then signalled for them to look.  
  
They saw Hideki approach Maaya, "Maaya-san, will you go with me to tonight's dance?"  
  
She turned her nose up, "No, I'm waiting for Aoi to ask me."  
  
"But he's already going with that Aya woman."  
  
"I don't believe you. He loves me."  
  
They laughed at that last phrase and Hideki continued, "You better. It's some best friend thing. They made a pact that whatever thing that required dates, if one or both can't find dates, they go together."  
  
Maaya turned white with fury, "Alright. But don't get any ideas."  
  
She strutted up the path, and he yelled out, "I'll pick you up at seven!"  
  
The clip ended and they found themselves in fits of laughter. They continued down the path and entered the school. They proceeded to the gym, which they'd found had a platform set up in the middle. The place was heavily decorated.  
  
Everyone else streamed in soon enough and the party started. Sakura hopped onto stage and said, "This party is to signal the end of the fight and is held in the winner's honour. Let's give a round of applause to our guest of honour."  
  
The applause died down and she continued, "And of course, our guest DJ," she gestured to her left, "Akizuki Nakuru."  
  
They clapped and when the room was quieter, "The music will be played non- stop, and at any point of time, anyone may come up here and sing, although he or she will have to wait until the current song is over. Ok? Now, let's get it on!"  
  
The party started out with Unwell, and people began either went to eat, socialise or dance.  
  
Aya, turning down many a guy's request to dance, just sat there and ate. Aoi, feeling curious, asked, "What's up? I've never seen a girl turn down twenty eight guys in a row."  
  
"I can't dance. Believe me. I tried. Thank god back then no one could."  
  
"You'll never know if you don't go."  
  
"That's my line. And I already said that I tried."  
  
Aoi sighed and grabbed her by the hand and dragged her out to the dance floor. She screamed, "LEMME GO LEMME GO LEMME GOOOOOOOOOOO~!!"  
  
"No. You're gonna learn how to dance. You'll never get through life here if you don't. Just move with the beat."  
  
Aya realized thee wasn't much point in arguing with her best friend, and soon found herself dancing. She was so happy, she clasped her friend's neck and let him swing her around, "I actually can dance! It's a friggin MIRACLE!"  
  
They danced a bit more until they were worn out and went back to eating for a while. Then Aya realized no one had gone up to sing yet. She smiled and crossed the dance floor as S Club's Have You Ever ended. She leapt onto the platform and took the mike, plugging her MP3 player into the speakers, Aoi and the gang watching in amusement. The music came on and she began to sing her entire playlist.  
  
I'm a dreamer hisomu PAWA- watashi no sekai yume to koi to fuan de dekite'ru demo souzou wo shinai mono kakurete'ru hazu sora ni mukau kiki no you ni anata wo massugu mitsumete'ru mitsuketai naa kanaetai naa shinjiru sore dake de koerarenai mono wa nai utau you ni kiseki no you ni "omoi" ga subete wo kaete yuku yo kitto kitto odoroku kurai I'm a dreamer hisomu PAWA- mada minu sekai soko de nani ga matte-ite mo moshimo risou to chigatte mo osore wa shinai tori-tachi wa kaze ni nori tabi wo shite yuku kyou kara ashita e to tsutaetai naa sakebitai naa kono yo ni hitotsu dake no sonzai de aru watashi inoru you ni hoshi no you ni chiisa na hikari dakedo itsuka wa motto motto tsuyoku naritai genkai no nai kanousei ga koko ni aru kono te ni It's gonna be your world. mitsuketai naa kanaetai naa shinjiru sore dake de koerarenai mono wa nai utau you ni kiseki no you ni "omoi" ga subete wo kaete yuku yo kitto kitto odoroku kurai  
  
Somewhere around here, people stopped listening and began dancing.  
  
She went on to sing Zankoku na Tenshi no Teze (more commonly known as Cruel Angel's Thesis), What U See Is What U Get, Year 3000, Open Up Your Mind, Sora E, Tokimeki no Doukasen, Crimson, Complicated, Trust, Himegoto, Itooshi Hito no Tame ni, Blow Winds, Alone, For Real, Still Time, Eyes On Me, Unbreakable, Queen of My Heart, Lucky and Open Up Your Mind again.  
  
After that, everyone was getting tired of fast beats literally, and she plugged in her second MP3 player, with only one song in it so far. So, she sang The Day You Went Away a few times.  
  
Elle, who was listening closely as she danced with Tetsuya, realized her voice was beginning to waver as she hit the last high note. As Aya began the song again, she went up on stage and placed her hand on Aya's shoulder, "Come on. Go relax. Our guest of honour doesn't have to burn out her vocals for our entertainment."  
  
They left the dancers and audience to enjoy a few seconds of lyric-less music, as Aya replied, "Ok."  
  
She stepped off the stage and Elle continued at the next verse, having had the song drilled into her mind after hearing it about seven times. Aoi took her hand at the foot of the small staircase leading on and offstage.  
  
His hands rested on the small of her back (the base, basically) and she wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder as they moved to the rhythm along with everyone else.  
  
Hideki and Maaya moved past them at one point of time, and the sight positively sickened Maaya. Obviously, Hideki loved it, it meaning that Aoi was probably gonna be taken sometime soon and that Maaya was as good as his.  
  
Elle hit the last high note of quite a few and left the stage, Sakura taking over. She took the mike and said, "Well, I hope you guys had a fun time tonight. And I think we have to thank Aya-san and Elle-chan for providing three and a half hours of music, don't you?"  
  
The crowd cheered and Sakura continued, "But the evening's not over yet. We still have to crown the Queen of the Night, and presenting the prize would be none other than..." she grinned, "Me."  
  
They laughed as people began to yell out names. Many were heard, but Sakura picked out the first five, "Ok, quiet. The nominees are Lee Aya, Shigeki Maaya, Hiiragizawa Elle, Maita Rei and Hiroyuki Honami."  
  
The five girls, marched onto stage, all equally beautiful in their own ways, making it seem an even battle.  
  
Everyone approached the buffet table to make their votes and when it was finally tallied, the results came out. "And the moment you've all been waiting for. And...it's a tie between Lee Aya and Shigeki Maaya!"  
  
The crowd gasped in shock and Maaya glared at Aya, who was smiling away sweetly, as the other three left the stage. A tiebreaker vote was held and the winner was "... LEE AYA!"  
  
She received a tiara and a HUGE bouquet, which she placed in a vase afterwards.  
  
Done finally. I had to rush a bit cos I have to do my math. R+R! 


	14. Only in America are there handicap parki...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (.) - My daft self - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 13: Downtown*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
She received a tiara and a HUGE bouquet, which she placed in a vase afterwards.  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
Today was Saturday, and that meant no school. So, Aya sat there under a cherry tree reading more manga. Suddenly, she noticed a shadow cast upon her and looked up. She saw Hideki, but something was different. His eyes had gone blank and whatever evil sparkle that was there wasn't anymore.  
  
Her eyes narrowed, and she scanned the area, getting up from her seat, finally spotting Maaya walking up towards Hideki and placing her arm around him, grinning evilly. "I always DID like those mind-control spells."  
  
"Whadaya want?"  
  
"The Sugimori curses always were the best, don't you think so? Although the chants are a bit lame..."  
  
Aya grunted, raising her arms in front of her defensively, and a ki shield appeared before her. Hideki began chanting monotonously,  
  
Aya shrieked as she dropped into a portal that had opened beneath her, hearing Maaya's cackle, "Of course, the best part is that no shield can deflect iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii..." the voice trailed off as Aya dropped into a red abyss.  
  
Maaya was still laughing as Hideki came to his senses. All he could remember was going to Maaya's house to return the jacket she left in his car, that evil glint in her eyes, and while he was recovering from the trance, the word 'curse'. Then he realized what happened as Aya's friends came running over.  
  
He snapped around to the laughing girl demanding, "Who'd I just curse?"  
  
"Aya, of course. You don't remember? Pity. Her scream was music to my ears."  
  
He glared at her, "And I thought I liked you. Now I see what you really are."  
  
Then his arm was twisted behind him & he was slammed into the ground by Tetsuya and Aki asked in a deadly voice, "Where's my sister?"  
  
"I don't know. Lemme go!"  
  
"Not till you tell me where you sent her."  
  
"I really don't know. Trust me. Maaya put a godforsaken mind-control spell on me. S'not my bloody fault."  
  
They looked up and saw Maaya begin to run. Fat chance. Yong Li and Tsuki dashed after her and pouncing, knocked her to the ground, "What did you do?"  
  
"What he said. Let go of me before I sue."  
  
"Oh yeah? I highly doubt it. What did you make him do?"  
  
"Ask him."  
  
They turned to Hideki who was being put into a standing position, and he said, "I must've cursed her."  
  
Their faces turned white and Syaoran punched him across the face, knowing best what the Sugimori curses could do. He was about to punch him again and Touya grabbed his arm, "My turn."  
  
Sakura screamed, "STOP!" and they all turned to face her. Her face was a deathly white as she asked, "Which one?"  
  
"I don't know. I was in a complete trance."  
  
"Will you be able to find out?"  
  
"Yes. The curses are cast in sequence, and once the whole set is completed, it starts over. But I suggest waiting here for a few seconds more. If I'm right and this is the last curse inn the list, she'll just be a minute. Literally."  
  
Over where Aya was, she had just dropped through another portal and landed in the master bedroom of a recognizably Singaporean HDB flat. A girl in a big green Bugs Bunny tee was at a computer, typing, and Superman was blasting out of the speakers. The girl snapped around to face the strange redhead, staring for a while before screaming her lungs out. Her face then blanked and she collapsed. She lay on the floor for a second or two then got up.  
  
Aya looked into her dark brown eyes, which seemed different. Then the girl spoke in a voice that didn't seem her own, "I've been waiting for you, Aya."  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"I'm the spirit who took shelter in this girl's body. I have no name, although thousands of years ago, the people called me Suzaku."  
  
"The red phoenix?"  
  
"Yes. I ruled over the lands with my brothers Byakko, Genbu and Seiryu. Then Seiryu decided he wanted to rule the whole world instead of having to share and started a war only I survived, and even then only my soul. My body itself was burnt to ashes. Anyway, our job consisted mainly of caring for the people, righting wrongs, the usual, but most importantly, reading people's fates and making sure they fulfil it."  
  
"So what am I supposed to do?"  
  
"Learn. About the many universes coexisting side by side, and also help with the fate thing."  
  
"And I'm supposed to do that how?"  
  
"We'll take a trip through Orchard Road and get what we need. Then we'll start. First, we have to take care of something." she stuck her head out the door, "Ma! I'm leaving now!"  
  
"OK!" came the reply.  
  
"My body, well, her name's Kelly, she's going to stay over at her friend's house tonight, which would mean that we've got all night to learn."  
  
"But I can't stay here all night. My friends will be worried."  
  
"Look at your watch. We've been talking a few minutes, but a second barely passed. Your whole trip here will only last a minute in your world. It's part of the curse. Now to sms a friend to tell her I can't make it."  
  
The 'girl' picked up a phone and began typing before leaving the room to get a change of clothes in another bedroom, where a boy and a very fat man were sleeping in the air-con. Emerging with an arm full of clothes, she asked, "You got any cash?"  
  
"Um, yah."  
  
"Sing dollars?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Let me see it. Your world is roughly thirteen to fourteen years ahead of this one. I need to see if it's the currency here."  
  
Aya dug around and found eight hundred dollar bills in her pocket, showing it to Suzaku, who said, "Thank god. Good. Now we can leave."  
  
She entered a toilet with a mirrored sliding door and emerged in a blue blouse and a long black skirt, "Now we're good to go. We're going by MRT."  
  
They snuck past Kelly's mother pretty easily and left the block. Taking the train, they were at Singapore's shopping central in a click. Aya was dragged into Ngee Ann city and as they made their way to the third level, she stared around her, "Cool! The place has hardly changed."  
  
"Oh, and another thing, around others, call me Kelly. We may just run into one of her friends."  
  
They entered Kinokuniya, the colossal bookstore, and 'Kelly' began moving around, picking books off shelves a bit too quickly for Aya to catch up. She finally gave up searching for the girl and said, "Look. I'll be in the manga section. Pick all the books you want and meet me there."  
  
"Ok."  
  
Aya made her way to the manga section and searched for stuff. She found and took all the Saiyuki art books she could find, and Wish by Clamp. She looked around for a while and heard a voice call her name. She turned and found 'Kelly' carrying a stack of books, and a muffled voice came from beneath, "Let's go."  
  
At the cashier, the whole lot happened to cost more than four hundred dollars, and the difference of weight was felt.  
  
They made their way to Yoshinoya downstairs for lunch and 'Kelly' proceeded to explain, "There are many universes, and each inhabited universe has the same basic planets and stars and everything else is give or take. These inhabited universes are the Alpha world, where we are right now, the Beta, where you're from and the Omega worlds, right at the bottom. The Alpha world is the one from which everything is controlled by me. The worlds between Beta and the Omega are all just one huge abyss which serves as an interchange between Beta and the Omega, got me so far?"  
  
"Yeah, but what do they have to do with each other."  
  
"Not much, but I'm somehow unable to teach people things in sequence. Moving on, each world has a group, an individual or perhaps an entire family who are somehow important and without them, the particular world will fall apart. Your curse makes you the one to help them. And these people have had their stories written as books in Alpha or Beta. The authors think it's just inspiration, but they're wrong. These are the scribes destined to write the stories of these worlds. That's why we needed these books. I need you to read them and make sure you're familiar with the stories of these people. They'll need your help."  
  
"And when will I have to do all this? What books have you got me, anyway?""  
  
"The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Gerald Morris's four Arthurian novels, the Princess diaries series, the Harry Potter series, Juliet Marillier's debut trilogy and I believe you already have the Saiyuki, Vandread and Fushigi Yuugi anime and manga. You'll need to know most of them when you're eighteen. You'll have to rush with the Harry Potter series though. You'll need it when you're in England. And I just though you'd like Juliet Marillier's books."  
  
"Ok?"  
  
"And according to the curse, when you turn eighteen, you and the one closest to you, friend or...AHEM... otherwise will be going through this together. Then, when you turn twenty-one, the war will start. You'll have to go through the Maze, and then fight a war. Don't worry. I'll be back to explain when we get there."  
  
Aya was glaring at her, "What about tonight? We can't go to your place, since you're supposed to be out."  
  
"Orchard hotel. You've still got how much?"  
  
"Almost three hundred."  
  
"Enough for a night (I think). Come on. It's down the road."  
  
They left and lugging the books along with them, they approached the hotel and entered, making straight for the counter, "Hi. We'd like a double room for one night."  
  
The receptionist eyed them suspiciously, "Where are your parents? The registrar has to be at least eighteen."  
  
Aya scowled, digging her hand into her pocket and a red aura flared from inside and she brought her hand out, producing an IC, "I AM eighteen. Just because I'm short doesn't mean you have to go assuming I'm six."  
  
"I beg your pardon ma'am."  
  
They took their keys and went up. In the lift, Aya asked, "What about clothes?"  
  
"You made your own IC, you can make clothes."  
  
"Damn you. It'll disappear soon enough. It's only an illusion. Why am I doing all the work?"  
  
"School fees. Now come on. You need to get reading."  
  
Aya began reading in the shower, and never stopped, not even through dinner. By the time they went to bed, she was done with the first two books and was starting on the third.  
  
The next day came and they checked out. At the void deck of 'Kelly's' block, Suzaku placed her hand on Aya's shoulder, "Good luck. You'll have to go in a few seconds, so bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
"I'll take care of Kelly's memory. Just wait around where people won't see you disappear, ok?"  
  
"Ok."  
  
'Kelly' walked to the lift lobby and Aya strolled around, finally finding herself across the car park behind a short hill amongst some trees. She looked at her watch and the second count turned from 59 to 00. With her armful of books and only a dollar or two left, she fell through another portal.  
  
The few seconds passed and true enough, Aya dropped out of another portal. Her friends, worried, rushed towards her, "Daijoubu ka?"  
  
"Daijoubu."  
  
"What're all those books?"  
  
"None of your business. What're you guys doing here, anyway?"  
  
"Oh. Touya, Yukito and Nakuru were leaving, so we came to find you to tell you. Then we found out about the curse."  
  
"Oh. Nice long-term curse, isn't it? And a war too."  
  
They turned to Hideki who looked grave, "She's right. The war has finally come. When she turns twenty-one, after a test, the ultimate war between light and dark will finally begin, to be more specific, between the first child of the Sugimoris & his inherited army and whoever else. I always avoided curses because I knew my father cast the second last one in the list."  
  
Aya stood up, "So you never wanted the war to occur in the first place?"  
  
"Yes. My father did, but he died before he could do anything, so now the burdens on me."  
  
She smiled at him, something no one expected her to do, "I think the curse put on your family is beginning to wear thin."  
  
Too bad for Aya, Touya had to return to the mainland that day. Now, she fell prey to the many boys that consisted of 50% of the student population. He had 'adopted' her as an imouto-chan, having lost Sakura to Syaoran long ago, and being the stereotypical over-protective onii-chan, he was what kept them away.  
  
Aya had managed to escape the clutches of the friends and the many boys asking her out by escaping to the mainland, with nought but her wallet, MP3 player and mobile. She loved her phone. It wasn't too tiny like some she knew were, the buttons weren't too stiff, the casing was just the right colour, there wasn't any antenna, it had a picture editor, a ring tone composer and it had 500 max characters for sms.  
  
She strolled into town and took in the sights - tall buildings, large screens advertising various products and the like. She bought herself an ice-cream cone and licked it as she walked down the street, listening to her music.  
  
Then, she bumped into someone and her cone went flying in the air as her head snapped up, "Gomen nasai!"  
  
"It's ok...youkai."  
  
She grinned at the man before her, grinning, "Konnichiwa, Touya onii-chan."  
  
"What're you doing here on the mainland alone, anyway? As far as I know, this is only your first or second time here. If you got lost, you could be in deep shit." "Well, that would be YOUR fault, won't it? You HAD to leave, leaving me alone with that mob of himbos. Now you owe me."  
  
"Ok then. I'll show you around town, how about that? I start work only tomorrow, so I'm free."  
  
"Fine by me. I've got to do some shopping for the two trips, anyway."  
  
He led her into the largest building nearest to them and she marvelled at the size of the place, "Cool."  
  
"What d'you need to buy, anyway?"  
  
"I dunno. Lots of stuff, I suppose. I need clothes, that's one thing for sure."  
  
"Then it's Taka where we're headed. It's got everything."  
  
"Takashimaya?"  
  
"Yup. Heard of it?"  
  
"There's a huge one in Ngee Ann City in Singapore. Love the place, especially Kino."  
  
"Kinokuniya?"  
  
"What else?"  
  
They made their way through the crowd and entered a large department store, several times the size of its Singaporean counterpart. Aya squealed in delight and darted straight in, Touya in tow.  
  
Soon, her arms were full of clothes, shoes, electronics, bits and pieces from here and there, some MORE underwear in case she gets too lazy to wash what she had and with Touya dragging along a new suitcase, still blushing from being spotted while being dragged into the lingerie department.  
  
She dumped the lot on one of the counters as the cashier began scanning them in. She drew her wallet from her pocket, "Damn it."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"I took the wrong wallet. My OTHER one's the one with all my cash and cards. Shit."  
  
The cashier threw her a disapproving look that only teachers could perfect and Touya sighed, shaking his head. This one could be even MORE muddle- headed than Sakura ever was. He dug through his untidy pockets and drew out his platinum, passing it to the cashier, who said in a true down-the-nose voice, "Your PIN number, sir."  
  
He keyed it in as Aya stared at him, "You can't do that."  
  
"I just did."  
  
"But..."  
  
"But what?"  
  
She scowled, "I don't like owing people money. I lose my sense of superiority."  
  
"Who said you owe me?"  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"You don't owe me. Everything today is on me. Now, we call my limo, get the stuff in and we're going for chow."  
  
She threw her arms around him, glomping him hard as she can, "THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU~!"  
  
Touya cringed, "God, Aya, I thought I was free when I FINALLY broke Nakuru out of the habit. Let go will you?"  
  
Confusing, isn't it? I know. I'm notorious for knowing things and not being able to explain it properly. R+R! 


	15. Consumption of alcohol may cause you to ...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (.) - My daft self - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
And about that funny ^language^ thing? Forget about it. I'm not really gonna bother anymore.  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 14: Homeward bound?*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
Touya cringed, "God, Aya, I thought I was free when I FINALLY broke Nakuru out of the habit. Let go will you?"  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
Wednesday came, and the ten students, along with the three heads, were being seen off by most of the island's population. Matsuki Ichiro had pulled out last minute and being next in line, Ryo was coming along.  
  
On the plane, Aya had the window seat next to Aki, Hideki & Hideko behind them, Aoi & Ryo behind them, then Maaya & Rei, Taro & Eri and the three heads across the aisle from Aki and Aya.  
  
Most of them slept, except for Aya who was typing away with her new laptop that Touya paid for. After a long flight, they FINALLY arrived in Singapore at night. In the tour coach as they made their way to Roxy Hotel, Aya asked Eriol, "Who're we exchanging with?"  
  
"Dunman High School, I believe. But we're going there, they're not coming to Japan. It's sort of one-way."  
  
She looked elated and glomped her brother, "We're going back!"  
  
"What? Where? After the long flight? We have to go back to Japan? I don't think I'll be able to stand it."  
  
"No silly. We're going back to DHS."  
  
He grunted, and swatting her away, turned over and fell asleep. Aya decided to prey on Aoi.  
  
"Hihihiz."  
  
"What're you, hyper? Wait. Of course you're hyper. But haven't you heard of jetlag?"  
  
"You guys all slept already. And I get to see my friends. All of them! They'll still be in Sec 2 and that means that none of them would've left. Isn't that great?"  
  
"NO. Now leave me alone."  
  
She scowled and went off to her seat and started hunting for something to do. But by the time she submitted into reading her manga AGAIN, they were at the hotel.  
  
They made their way to the top floor, most of which they had booked. When they emerged from the lift, the three heads turned and said, "Now, for the room assignments. We'll let you choose, but mind you, we only want to see one boy-girl arrangement."  
  
Hideko was the only one who spotted the glint in Maaya's eye and knew it meant pure suffering for Aoi. So, she cringed and put her arm around the girl to save her friend, "I'll take Maaya."  
  
Sakura smiled at her and passed her a key, "Yours' is the first one on the left."  
  
Before Maaya could protest, she was dragged off and shoved into a suite. The rest laughed and soon, the pairs were taken before anything else could happen. Rei took Eri, Hideki took Taro, Aki took Ryo, and finally, only Aoi and Aya were left staring blankly around them.  
  
Eriol tossed the key towards his half-grandson (Sakura's his half daughter, remember?), "Fifth to the right."  
  
They were settled into their suites soon enough, but unfortunately for Aoi and Aya, they had to share a room, since there was only one bedroom in the small suite.  
  
They all trooped down to the restaurant for dinner before heading off to bed.  
  
The next morning, they all met in the lobby after breakfast. Sakura clapped her hands together, "Everyone ready? Let's go."  
  
They got into the bus and except for Aya, the girls began discussing guys. Aya personally began snorting away, remembering her many ex-schoolmates.  
  
Rei's voice was heard rather distinctly, "Most of the guys are probably younger than me."  
  
Maaya decided to heat things up a little, though her methods being a little childish, "I bet my outfit's more attractive than yours."  
  
Today, all the guys had decided to go uniform, and all were in navy cargos that ended just below the knee and baggy white T-shirt with the school badge on it. The girls, however, were a little more creative. Hideko was in a VERY short pleated navy skirt and a white blouse, Eri a long-sleeved white turtle-neck, though now she was regretting it, considering the temperature outside, and navy slacks, Maaya in a white tube top, which personally the heads frowned upon, and a navy miniskirt, Rei in a sleeveless white blouse and a navy wraparound knee-length skirt and Aya in a white multi-strand spaghetti strap top and a navy ankle-length skirt.  
  
Aya didn't have to wire herself this time. Her new MP3 player had a wireless earpiece that was transparent. Only a thin transparent wire connected the two earpieces and her hair hid that. While the principal made his speech, she told Aoi to poke her when anything involving her crops up.  
  
(They change to Eng somewhere around here)  
  
Soon after, she felt a sharp jab in her side and she walked up to the platform. As she shook hands with the comparably short man she smiled, "Good morning Mr Tan."  
  
"You look familiar."  
  
"Yeah. I just transferred to Japan earlier this year."  
  
He nodded as she left the platform and the next one was called. The three heads made a speech, and once again Aya tuned off. When they were leaving, they followed Aya's old math teacher, who brought them around the GEP (Gifted Education Programme) classes. They stopped by the sec 2s first and while he informed the teacher about the situation, Aya hid beside the doorway, grinning, out of sight of the teacher, but making sure her friends could see her.  
  
They started laughing and soon, the Japanese students were sitting with the class listening to geography about oil palm plantations. Aya and Aki picked their seats carefully, while the other eight at random, though Aya wouldn't let Ryo anywhere near the back of the class.  
  
Staring to the front of the class and concentrating more on her music than Bokkie, as they called the teacher, she whispered, "Chibi onee-chan."  
  
The short girl beside her glared hard as she could, "Baka imouto."  
  
She smiled, "Imouto-CHAN. When will you EVER get that right? Besides, you're still short."  
  
"Mean. What's short gotta do with imouto-chan, anyway?"  
  
Aya grinned, "Absolutely nothing at all."  
  
The lesson soon ended and Aya grabbed Ryo's arm with a vice-grip, "Come on. I wanna show you the class bunny."  
  
"BUNNY?"  
  
"Yes bunny."  
  
"NONONONONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!"  
  
"Yes. Here he is, anyway."  
  
The first thing he saw was that glinting pair of TEETH. He screamed and was on a table in no time flat while everyone else laughed their asses out. Aya told him, still gasping for breath, "Don't worry. It's just a guy with huge buckteeth. His name's Suigin, or quicksilver if you want. Just about all that's Jap about him is his name."  
  
Ryo scowled at his friend, "Meanie."  
  
Aya dismissed it with a "mouse" and went over to the girl she was talking to earlier, "Is it recess now?"  
  
"Yeah. Today was combined geog."  
  
"I noticed."  
  
A bunch of other girls came over and one of them said, "The guys over there are pretty cool, huh? Lucky you."  
  
Then another added, "Especially that blue-haired one."  
  
"It's black. It's just so black it shines blue. And if you want to go after him, you'll have to fight it out with Maaya. Literally. She's got this huge crush on him."  
  
Just then, the boy in question dashed over, hiding behind Aya, squeaking, "Help."  
  
She put him in a headlock, "Maaya again?"  
  
"She's a NIGHTMARE. Now she's trying to tell the others that I'm ENGAGED to her."  
  
Aya chuckled, "Aw. Ain't that just so sad?"  
  
A girl almost as tall and in equally good shape as Aya smirked, "OOOH~!! Aya went and got herself a BOYFRIEND."  
  
"Al, seriously, I can't imagine ANYONE who'd want to be Aoi's girlfriend."  
  
"What about that girl?"  
  
"She's a bit off. So off she tried to pull me of h...my seat once."  
  
The short one winced, "Ouch. What happened?"  
  
She smiled her evil smile, "Well, Mizuryu, shouldn't you know that already?"  
  
Aoi asked, "Mizuryu? Will this place EVER run out of Japanese?"  
  
The girl laughed, "Nah. It's just a nick. My name's Yang Shui Long. And what EXACTLY did you do to her?"  
  
Aya grinned, "Her nose was quite bloody, if I remember right."  
  
They trooped off to recess and they passed a short teacher, who asked, "Are these the Japanese students?"  
  
One of the group said, "Yah."  
  
Aya smiled, "Hi Mr Ken."  
  
"Hi. You look familiar."  
  
"Mr Tan said that too. I was in 2L and I transferred out in June."  
  
"To Japan?"  
  
"Hai."  
  
They started a long conversation in very FAST Japanese and Shui Long told Aki, "They must be REALLY fast teachers. She never could speak this fast."  
  
"You didn't know? She could speak this fast since who knows when."  
  
"She never told me. What're they talking about?"  
  
"Food."  
  
Sweatdrop.  
  
The rest of the day was somewhat uneventful and soon they were back at the hotel.  
  
Aya was hanging upside down off the back of the couch, "I'm bored."  
  
"So?"  
  
Then she dropped off, "Ow..."  
  
"You alright?"  
  
"No. I've got a friggin bump on my head."  
  
She dashed over to the phone and quickly dialled a number, "Hello? May I speak to Shui Long?"  
  
Pause.  
  
"Hi, it's Aya. I'm calling from the hotel. Wanna come over for dinner?"  
  
Pause again.  
  
"Don't worry. My treat."  
  
Pause.  
  
"'K then. See you in the lobby in half an hour."  
  
Aoi stared at her, "You mad? We're not the ones paying for the room service and the food."  
  
"The restaurant food is free for us. Worse comes to worst, we'll pop on down and go to Parkway."  
  
"Fine. Whatever you say."  
  
Aya took a quick shower and emerged in the same outfit as when she fought the last round of the Fight.  
  
"Didn't you wear that already?"  
  
"So?"  
  
"I've never seen any girl at all on the island re-wear their clothes."  
  
"There's a first time for everything. Now, if you will excuse me."  
  
She left the room and made her way to the lift.  
  
Aoi was feeling rather pleased with himself, tossing a shaker through the air a last time before he could savour his cocktail. Then, disaster struck. The click in the lock distracted him for the slightest moment and the shaker cam crashing to the floor, creating one big mess on the floor.  
  
The two girls in the doorway stared for a moment and began laughing. Aoi scowled at them, "Shut up will you?"  
  
Aya told the shorter girl, "Change of plan. I'll get some cash and we can walk around outside while the poor little boy tides up here."  
  
"Aren't you gonna help? S'your fault, you know. "  
  
"Aoi dearest, no one asked you to start making one part sake two part Sprite concoctions while I was away. T'rah. And take a bath. I'm not sleeping in a room that smells like sake and Sprite tonight."  
  
They left the suite and Shui Long asked, "I thought the bedrooms were separate."  
  
"BedROOM. Unfortunately, I've got to share with that monstrosity. Thank god there are separate beds."  
  
An evil glint crossed Shui Long's eye, "Or SOMETHING might happen, eh?"  
  
"Shut. The. Flying. F***. Up."  
  
"Fine. You're the one paying for my meal, anyway."  
  
They left to take a trip across the road to Parkway, to visit a very familiar VCD shop. Aya dashed straight in, heading for the tiny shelf dedicated to anime and extended her collection quite a bit with Saiyuki Requiem, Saiyuki, Boys Be, the Love Hina sketchbook, the Sakura Taisen movie and Cowboy Bebop the movie - Knocking On Heaven's Door.  
  
Two hundred grams of no nut chocolate chip from Famous Amos later, they were back in the hotel and the two girls trooped into the bedroom to put away Aya's new VCDs. Inside, they found a snoring Aoi sleeping face down on his bed without even bothering about the blanket. Aya shook her head and after putting everything away as noisily as she could manage, she found the boy STILL snoring, much to her friend's amusement.  
  
An evil grin swept across her face and she raised her two index fingers positioning them next to his sides, "On three."  
  
Together, "THREE!" and she jabbed him as hard as she could manage. An unearthly yell filled the area and he fell onto the floor. He rubbed his back, "Ow... What d'you do that for?"  
  
Then he noticed the two giggling girls in front of him and remembered that he hadn't quite bothered about his T-shirt and flushed. Aya, still grinning, shook her head and flung the first of his T-shirts she could grab into his face, "Get some clothes on. We're going to take a walk down the road to Five Star Chicken Rice. It's been there since my parents' time and it's quite good."  
  
He pulled it on and got up, following the two very amused girls out the door. After dinner, Shui Long went home and Aya & Aoi went back to the hotel. They took turns with the bathroom and in no time at all, were both fast asleep under the covers.  
  
Done. There. To all my friends reading this, here's your appearance. Of course, only three made it, but I didn't want to offend anyone TOO much, so *shrugseez*. And the two miscellaneous girls are none of you peeps, so relax. R+R! 


	16. If it wasn't meant to be eaten, it won't...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (.) - My daft self - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 15: Personal Tour*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
He pulled it on and got up, following the two very amused girls out the door. After dinner, Shui Long went home and Aya & Aoi went back to the hotel. They took turns with the bathroom and in no time at all, were both fast asleep under the covers.  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
Aya woke the next morning to the sight of a very grumpy Aoi who scowled, "Good going. Whoever knew anyone could sleep half a day."  
  
"Huh? What time is it?"  
  
"Ten something. The tour only left half an hour ago."  
  
"Well sorry if you wanted to go on one of those lame things. Take it from someone who experienced them first hand. They bore you to kingdom come."  
  
"It's not so much that, but I was lectured into staying here to accompany you."  
  
"Aw. Poor Aoi. Oh yeah, I forgot. Two of the heads are your parents. Why couldn't you have just woken me up anyway?"  
  
"You think I didn't try?"  
  
"Sorry."  
  
They were quiet for a few seconds and then Aya hopped out of bed, grabbing Aoi by his shirt, "Well, get out. I need to get changed."  
  
"For what? Your bloody breakfast has already been brought up for you."  
  
"You wanted a tour, you're getting a tour. Come on. I'll show you East Coast Park and we can hit Orchard Road by night. Come ON. I can't change with you in the room."  
  
He was just out when the door slammed in his face. She emerged a few minutes in one of her swimsuit thingies, cargoes and a light blue sleeveless blouse used as a jacket.  
  
Aoi was a bit confused at this ensemble, "I thought you gave up on those swimsuit things."  
  
She shrugged, gathering her wallet, etc., "They're still swimsuits. I can still keep 'em, can't I?"  
  
"Whatever."  
  
They walked down East Coast Road and eventually crossed over to Marine Parade (these are real places, FYI. Everything is). They walked down the road and Aoi was getting a bit impatient, "How long more?"  
  
"I dunno. When I walk, I don't usually time."  
  
Behind St. Pat's, they crossed the Siglap Park Connector, and then naught but the ECP separated them. Aoi sweatdropped, "A HIGHWAY is blocking us."  
  
"Yep. Now come on."  
  
"No way. How'd you expect to cross a highway? Run?"  
  
Aya thought for a while and grinned, "It WOULD be fun, but I've got other plans, i.e. an overhead bridge."  
  
Aoi flushed, embarrassed, and followed behind his friend. Soon they were across the road and after a short walk backwards, they rented a double bike for a few hours and set off towards Bedok Jetty. Once there and having bought an ice cream each, they headed down to the beach, sweating slightly from the long ride. They sat there on the sand, eating their ice cream...well, by now Aya had finished and was giggling at Aoi trying to handle HIS ice cream. He scowled at her, "Since when did ice cream come in bread, anyway?"  
  
"Since long before my parents' time. Don't worry. You'll get used to it. Just thank your luck stars you didn't get the wafer. It's far messier."  
  
Aoi licked up the remnants of his ice cream and they sat in silence for a while longer. Then Aya caught the evil glint in his eye and probed his mind a bit, before a look of horror crossed her face, "Oh no you don't!"  
  
She began running, but Aoi, laughing, ran after her, hoisting her up onto his shoulders and, running a short distance into the water, dumped her in. She sat up, soaked, and glared at him as she struggled to get seawater out of her mouth, nose and ears.  
  
She suddenly disappeared and, appearing behind her traitorous friend, rammed Aoi into the water. They played around in the water for a while until the sky started giving hints of beginning to darken. They walked onto the shore and with Watery and Windy, they were clean and dry in no time.  
  
They rode back just on time and walked backwards through the Park Connector. Aoi asked his friend, "Where're we going now?"  
  
She grinned at him, "The others are still having fun at the Esplanade, watching some ballet," Aoi cringed, "so why can't we have fun too? We're headed for Orchard Road, Singapore's shopping hub, where rental blows your income to shreds."  
  
He laughed and they walked round St. Pat's, it being closed, and found themselves at a bus stop, just on time to catch the right bus. They hopped on, paid in coins and walked onto the upper deck. By the time they got off, the sun had long since set. They walked down the road and headed for Aya's favourite place, Ngee Ann City.  
  
She squealed in delight and grabbed Aoi's wrist, dragging him inside. She hopped straight to the third floor, dashing into Kinokuniya. Aoi could barely keep up with her as she dashed between shelves and shelves of manga, grabbing books off as she went along. As she lined up, Aoi asked her, "You can get these books for much cheaper back home, you know."  
  
"Yeah, but those are in Jap."  
  
"So? I thought you'd be able to read Jap by now."  
  
"I can, I suppose, but I'm still more comfortable with Chinese or English."  
  
"Suit yourself."  
  
After that, they headed down for Taka, where Aya went a bit crazy with the clothes and everything else. After loading Aoi up with her purchases, only carrying her precious manga herself, they headed downstairs, first to Watson's.  
  
Aoi was more confused than ever before, "Why are we here? This looks like a place people came to for things like shampoo and tissue."  
  
She smiled and headed for shelf of ZA products. Grabbing almost every shade of nail polish there, a few of the 10-carat eye shadow and lip gloss, she then walked over to Sally Hansen and picked up a few top and base coats before paying for the lot.  
  
Aoi thought he'd just gone mad and was hallucinating, "What's with the make- up?"  
  
"You don't expect me to go to England unequipped, do you?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Your mom says they already drew the names for those to go to England and I'm in. She refused to tell me who else is going though. She also said there was going to be some Yule Ball on Christmas. And besides, my stocks are running low. The last time I went shopping for the stuff was two years ago."  
  
"I will never, in my entire lifetime, be able to figure you out."  
  
"Good for you then."  
  
After dinner at Yoshinoya, they headed for Wisma Atria, right next door and found everything Aya needed in the basement. She bought a few 400g tins of no nut chocolate chip from Famous Amos to bring home and headed for a very pink booth just inside Isetan.  
  
She picked up all five shades of both Moonlight (that's the brand) lip colour + lip gloss and shadow powder and two tubes of body glitter. They hunted around Orchard for a while and Aya made her final purchases - two large cosmetic cases.  
  
Then, as it was already nine pm, they caught a cab back to the hotel. They met the others, who looked extremely bored, in the lobby and the girls started staring enviously at Aya's many bags. Rei asked her, "How'd you manage it? Where'd you go anyway?"  
  
Aya grinned, "What? They didn't bring you shopping on the tour?"  
  
"Ha. Yeah right. The object most worth our cash was a little doggy we passed and I doubt it's for sale."  
  
Aya laughed and Rei continued, "How much did you spend? Must be a lot."  
  
"Well, the clothes were a couple hundred tops, Watson's about a hundred fifty, food altogether eighty-five, Isetan a hundred and ten and books about a hundred, which means that altogether it's six hundred and forty five."  
  
(They enter lift somewhere here)  
  
"Wow. That IS a lot."  
  
"Away from how spendthrift I am, what was Shigeki up to today? Ryo and Aki look a bit, um, ruffled."  
  
Rei giggled, "You stole her Aoi, so she decided to cheer herself up by hitting on Ryo and your bro."  
  
Aya's eyes bulged and she doubled in a fit of giggles, causing everyone else in the lift to start staring.  
  
They returned to their respective rooms and after a while, Aya heard a knock on the door. Maaya and a grumpy Rei were at the door and the latter said, "I came over to ask for a story and she brought herself along."  
  
Aya scowled, "Whatever. Come on in. I'll tell you while I'm organising my stuff."  
  
They saw a line-up of cosmetics, clothes and books on the floor and while Rei gaped in wonder, Maaya stared in jealousy.  
  
Aya sat herself down and began the story while lining up her manga in alphabetical and numerical order. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Maaya casually pick up a bottle of nail polish and start trying to open it. She paused the story to mumble something under her breath as the bottle was lifted out of Maaya's hand and sat back on the floor where it was, "Touch ye not the nail polish. Now where was I?"  
  
She was about to finish the recollection of the day's events and Aoi emerged out of the room halfway through putting his T-shirt on when he noticed the three girls sitting on the floor. He flushed and yanked it on completely and glared at Aya as Maaya began drooling and Rei giggled, "Aya, how many times must I tell you to tell me before you decide to invite your friends in? Geez. I come out for a drink just after my bath and find my roommate's invited a couple other girls in."  
  
As he walked to the fridge to get a Coke, Rei stood up, "Well, time for me to go. I promised MY roommate I'd help her with her facial. Seriously. I've never seen a girl so concerned with her skin. Goodnight Aya, Maaya-san, Aoi." she opened the door and stepped out, poking her head in and adding, "By the way, nice abs."  
  
Aoi flushed further and went into the bedroom. Maaya immediately glared at Aya, "Now I can say what I came to say - stay away from Aoi."  
  
Aya gave an exasperated sigh, "You're not STILL jealous are you? Oh goodness... How many times must I tell you that we're only particularly good friends?"  
  
"So good that he feels embarrassed with his shirt around other girls and not around you?"  
  
"That's because I don't get giggly or start drooling. Please. I had a father who walked around the house in his underwear. Even Aki walked around shirtless."  
  
"I don't give a shit for your excuses. He's mine and you can't have him."  
  
Aya smacked her forehead in exasperation, "Shigeki-san, you are welcome to have him if he would have you. In fact, if the two of you DO become a couple, I'd give you my blessing, but the thing is, he doesn't like you OR me THAT way. And about the date thing? It's just so that we're both ensured dates, ok? Now if you'll kindly show yourself out, I'd like to get on with this.  
  
Maaya glared and stomped out of the room, leaving Aya to her day's purchases.  
  
Hahaz. I think some of you might be guessing what's gonna happen. It's a bit obvious, really. R+R! 


	17. Only in America do banks leave both door...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (.) - My daft self - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 16: Ice-cream Treat and Saying Goodbye*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
Maaya glared and stomped out of the room, leaving Aya to her day's purchases.  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
They were free to do what they wanted on Friday as long as they were back by ten and Aya & Aoi and Aki & Ryo were stuck in their rooms, thanking god for cable. Their friends had started off the day by trying to get Aya to bring them around town, show them whatever fun there was to have and Aya managed to escape them only by telling them Aki knew the country as well as she did and when they left, she immediately called Aki's room to warn him.  
  
Aya was horribly bored. Most of what was on were reruns and everything else were either the news or commercials. Then, at noon, she couldn't take it. She grabbed Aoi by the collar, "Come on. We're blowing this joint."  
  
She wrinkled out and into her brother's room, where she found Aki and Ryo quite happily ignoring the outside mob and playing Twister in their boxers and T-shirts. They were suddenly aware of Aoi and Aya standing there watching them and Ryo lost his balance, flushing a deep crimson, "Warn us next time you decide to wrinkle, will you?"  
  
Aki got up, "Ha. You lost." He turned to his sister and their friend, "Wanna join us?"  
  
"No, and I doubt you wanna play that game again either."  
  
Ryo smiled sheepishly, "Well, yeah, but there's nothing else we can do."  
  
"Yes there is and if you wanna get outta here, get changed. Now. And make it quick. There's no telling when someone downstairs might press the button for the lift."  
  
The two were so elated they fell over each other several times trying to get into the room to get change and a few minutes later, they came out in a seemingly standard T-shirt and jeans.  
  
Aoi was by now investigating the boys' fridge and Aya extended her right hand to them, grabbing Aoi by the collar with her right. They took her hand and in an instant, they were in the lift, waving goodbye to their friends.  
  
Aki laughed, "I almost feel sorry for them."  
  
They nodded in agreement as they stepped out of the lift. Aoi asked Aya, "Where're headed today? Orchard again?"  
  
"No, the Concourse."  
  
Aki groaned, "Not there. It's positively boring."  
  
"Good for you. I need to pick up some stuff. Besides, you know your way around. Go find something to do. And you guys are welcome to join him."  
  
"Ah hell. I'll come along. I can't think of anything else to do."  
  
So, they caught a cab to the Concourse, where Aya headed straight for the top level. She entered a shop with the three bored boys on her tail and hunted for a while before grabbing a few cans of something.  
  
Ryo peeked over her shoulder, "What's that?"  
  
She showed him the few cans of glitter hair spray before paying up, "I just ran out and I can't find it in Japan."  
  
They then left the building and Aki asked, "Where to now?"  
  
"Tampines Mall. Never been there for a damned long time."  
  
They took a cab to the shopping centre and went for a movie after a lunch at Orange Julius. After the very long movie, it was two hours before dinner, which they had set at seven pm, and they had nothing to do, so they trooped off to the arcade and bought tickets for two hours in the maze. (One of those maze thingies you usually find little kids in)  
  
Their time was up and they went downstairs for dinner at Swenson's. Spending another two hours there, eating, Aya remembered something, "Aoi, it's Friday."  
  
"So?"  
  
"You owe me an ice cream treat."  
  
"Oh yeah."  
  
"And who's gonna pay?"  
  
They looked around for a while and Aoi sighed, "Ok. I'll pay first and you peeps can pay me back later."  
  
They all agreed and enjoyed their ice cream, before heading back to the hotel. Aoi collected his money and then they all left for their own rooms, to pack for the next day.  
  
Aya FINALLY yanked her suitcases close and she proceeded to help Aoi yank on the zip of his suitcase, since he had to take on whatever couldn't fit into Aya's before a quick shower each.  
  
Aoi couldn't sleep, so he decided to watch some TV. He left the room and found Aya already on the couch watching anime on AXN, eating her newly acquired cookies.  
  
"Hey. Can't sleep?"  
  
Aya swallowed her cookie, "Yeah."  
  
Aoi took a seat next to his friend and watched Son Goku thrash Kougaiji, "You never get bored of this, do you?"  
  
"No."  
  
They watched in silence for a while and Aya said, "Goodness knows I'll miss the subtitles. You don't get subs in Japan and all I'll get in England are dubs."  
  
"Don't wanna leave, do you?"  
  
"Not particularly. I thought all this place was going to be to me was an old house. Somewhere I used to live for thirteen and a half years. No. Leaving this place will be harder now that I'm actually here."  
  
He placed an arm around his best friend, "Come on. Cheer up. Use the whole tin of cookies if that's what it takes. I'm SO not bringing a grumpy girl home with me while my oji-san is still there. Why in the name of all things sacred did he have to adopt YOU of all people to be his new imouto-chan?"  
  
"I dunno. Wanna share the cookies?"  
  
They watched Saiyuki, Strange Dawn and Galaxy Angels before they fell asleep right where they were.  
  
The next morning, they were to gather in Eriol's room at eight for the announcement of the names of those going to England, and expectedly, Aya and Aoi didn't show. Sakura, using the master key, let herself in and found them asleep. As they say, old habits are hard to break, and it just so happened that being around Tomoyo so much made Sakura adore kawaii sights, and upon this one, she squealed so loudly, Syaoran and Eriol rushed over.  
  
Unfortunately, the squeal woke the two up too. They woke up, took one look at the clock and jumped up in shock, and with a yell, fell over each other before FINALLY noticing the three adults at the door. They gave the heads a sheepish smile, "Eep."  
  
Syaoran shook his head exasperatedly as he walked back to Eriol's room next door and Eriol stared into space thoughtfully, that ever-present Almighty Glint of Evilness shining brighter than ever, as he dragged Sakura by the arm, leaving the two to pick themselves up.  
  
In a few seconds, the two best friends were in the room grinning sheepishly at the eleven-strong group in Eriol's room. Eriol smiled, "Now that the two sleepy heads are here, we can get on with things. Before I let you off to primp for the trip home, we have to announce the names of those going for the England trip. There was absolutely no bias or magic involved, since we drew names out of a wine glass. Anyway, regardless of process, the names are Fujita Eri, Lee Aya, Li Aoi, Maita Rei and Shigeki Maaya."  
  
Some groaned and Maaya was looking particularly smug.  
  
Eriol continued, "Will the other five please leave the room, so I can brief these kids on the trip." He waited for them to leave the room with his fellow heads, "Don't think that this is some kind of joyride. You will have to, within the time frame of 25 days, not only successfully but also inconspicuously, create a wand with a core of choice. Then, on the morning of the 26th of October, a guide will meet us and bring us to Diagon Alley, where we will pick up school supplies. Your uniforms will be given to you tomorrow. From Diagon Alley, the guide will bring us to Hogwarts by Floo Powder. And once there, you will be assigned to a Hogwarts student and will be taking lessons with his or her respective House. You will also be staying with the student in his or her dormitory, where an extra bed will be somehow fit in. Any questions?"  
  
Eri raised her hand. "Yes, Fujita-san?"  
  
"What about our regular lessons. Will we have to go through extra tuition or something when we come back?"  
  
"No. No extra tuition. That would be because we believe you capable of independent study. The most we'll be doing for you would be to set you homework and deadlines every now and then."  
  
They groaned and before they were dismissed, Eriol had something else to say, "Oh, and one of you will be chosen to take part in the Triwizard Tournament by an impartial judge. I'll explain in due time."  
  
Aya and Aoi headed into the other room to get out of their pyjamas. Inside, while rummaging through suitcases while trying not to upset anything, Aoi thought, "I wonder what's the Triwizard Tournament?"  
  
To his shock, a reply came, out loud, "It's a competition where Champions from various schools, usually only Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, but this time we're included, go through three tasks and try to, as usual, win."  
  
Aoi clutched his chest dramatically, "You have GOT to stop doing that."  
  
She shrugged, grabbing her day's outfit, a sleeveless fitting black normal- yet-seemingly-short-since-it-rises-above-the-belly-button-when-you-raise- your-arms tee with a sequined strawberry in the middle and jeans, "S'not MY fault I can hear your thoughts. Dibs on the bathroom."  
  
She shut and locked the door before Aoi could protest. By the time she came out, Aoi was nearly falling asleep, but the shock sure woke him up. She looked positively radiant. He raised an eyebrow, "What happened? S'not really like you to dress up for a flight."  
  
She smirked, "But it's VERY like me to kill a certain girl's ego. If you want, I'll tell you the story, but not until I'm done with my nails and you get a bath. You still smell like drool. Oh, did you know you drool when you sleep?"  
  
He shook his head, wondering why he hadn't remembered that it was a large part of Aya's nature to try and spite anyone she didn't like as he walked into the bathroom. Outside, she was busy looking through her new bottles of nail polish to pick a colour, before finally deciding on the particular shade of metallic rosy red that Maaya was admiring the night before.  
  
When he came out a comparably short time later, Aya's nails were done, her hair was up in a French twist and she had slipped on the pair of heeled sandals.  
  
As they checked the suite for stuff they might've left behind, Aya told the story, "She was even trying to sneak on some of my polish last night. I've noticed over the years that the best way to get back at someone is to make him or her jealous, especially if it's a girl."  
  
She twirled around but suddenly stopped, with a thoughtful look on her face with a glint in her eye that showed that she might've learnt something from his half-grandfather after all. She began grinning at Aoi and he backed away nervously, "I don't like that look."  
  
She launched herself at him and latched onto his arm, looking up at him with huge teary puppy eyes and an excessively cute pout. He searched her mind and cried out in horror, "NO! I'M NOT DOING IT!"  
  
"Please? Pretty please? Or maybe just a one-sided thing? It'll make her SO jealous, I just KNOW it!"  
  
He looked at her doubtfully and she continued, "Don't YOU want to make her upset? Especially after how much she's harassed you?"  
  
He stared off into space as a small smile crept onto his face, "Only if it's one-sided. Then we can tell the gang about it and let it spread. The other girls will make sure of it. And only for one day."  
  
She was absolutely elated. She grabbed his face and gave him a kiss on the cheek before beginning to jump up and down everywhere.  
  
The moment they left the room, you couldn't catch them without Aya hanging off his arm and Aoi looking like he's in agony. And of course, without Maaya positively seething.  
  
She was angry not only at Aya+Aoi, but also at the fact that Aya looked fabulous. Actually, though she wouldn't admit it, she knew that 'fabulous' topped the list of understatements.  
  
Most just stared in wonder, and though the three heads saw through this, they just decided to leave them alone. Besides, what harm can come from a little fun?  
  
At the airport, they wandered through the duty-free shops within the departure hall armed with half an hour. As Aya left Aoi's arm to go to the bathroom, Rei grabbed the chance and went along.  
  
Once inside, she asked, "Ok, what's up? That was an act. I know. It's too obvious."  
  
Aya grinned at Rei in the mirror while powdering, "Of COURSE this is an act, and guess who it's for."  
  
Rei laughed, "Shigeki Maaya? I can safely bet that if you pour some water on her head, it'll steam."  
  
Aya turned and flipped her hair, "So, how do I look? Nothing short of, say, utterly gorgeous will suffice, mind you."  
  
Rei laughed even harder, "Utterly gorgeous it is then. Anything that pisses Maaya off deserves the praise."  
  
"Oh, and by the way, we're counting on you to start passing it around tonight. News of our little game will go through this place like wildfire, and we need somebody to put it out."  
  
Rei looked doubtfully at her, "Are you sure they'll believe me? Seriously, they LIKE this sort of thing; love triangles and the like."  
  
"Don't worry. They know that when I think about guys, it's always when to hit them and what with. We can only get the gang to pass it tomorrow, but tell as many peeps as you can the real story and the story they pass around will be the one with the acting and the jealousy."  
  
"Anything you say."  
  
They left the bathroom to find Maaya making use of that few minutes to hit on Aoi, who was currently hopping over a chair to escape her. Aya winked to Rei and sprinted forward, leaping and glomping him for all she was worth.  
  
He gave a helpless look and was dragged off to the chocolate store, where thankfully, Aya only bought five pieces. Most of the guys, with the obvious exceptance of Aki and Aoi, gaped at her drooling as she bit into one of the pieces, while she kept her best friend in a particularly uncomfortable headlock.  
  
The plane ride went by rather uneventfully, and it was the ride home that was really interesting. There were two limos ready to pick them up from the airport. Hideko, Hideki, Rei, Aki, Ryo, Sakura and Syaoran went in one and the rest were in the other.  
  
In the limos, there are two sides with seats. There was the one long side opposite the door and the short side away from the driver. Eriol took the short side and the five sat in a row along the long side - Taro, Eri, Maaya, Aya and Aoi.  
  
Maaya, by now, snapped at anything that moved and felt particularly like strangling Aya with her hair. Aya, knowing this, kept up the charade, feeling excessively pleased with herself. And Aoi, the perpetual victim, was flushed and exhausted from running from these two the whole day and wondering why he even agreed to this.  
  
They got off the limo at the checkpoint and as they lined up to get on the cable cars, Maaya hissed, "He's mine. Give it up or else."  
  
Aya just grinned and grabbing Aoi, who was in front of her, she kissed him on the cheek. That just enraged Maaya even further, and she was about to launch herself at Aya but they were getting onto the cable cars.  
  
There were three cable cars, but they only used two. Each could seat seven, and Sakura, Syaoran, Rei, Taro, Eri, Hideko and Hideki were in one, the rest in the other.  
  
Aya looked particularly proud of herself, and Eriol, knowing something else would happen if she goes too far, shot her a look that said, "That was all very amusing but don't push it." She pouted at him and gave up, finally snuggling up to Aoi and falling asleep.  
  
After the few minutes, they couldn't get Aya awake, so Aki carried her all the way home. As he was somehow managing to unlock the door, she woke up and he put her down, commenting as he levitated their luggage inside (How else would he have managed to carry everything when both his arms are carrying his sister?), "I didn't know you kissed people so openly. I never even knew you kissed people outside the family."  
  
Aya shrugged, pulling off her shoes, "I dunno. Coming here must've changed me I suppose."  
  
He raised an eyebrow.  
  
"When put into a new environment, an animal must choose - adapt and survive, or stay exactly the way you are and die."  
  
Done. Finally. And I still got time for a bath and lunch. My mom's bringing us out later and I just HAD to finish this. R+R! 


	18. Consumption of alcohol may cause you to ...

"." - Talking (NO Duh!) ^.^ - Language (.) - My daft self - Singing/Battle Chants CAPS - Shouting or emphasis on that word *Note: '-' will be replacing those dot dot dot thingies since dot dot dots show as only one dot on ff.net.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CC/CCS.  
  
Aoi Youkai  
  
*Chapter 17: Cometh Forth Into the Fabled World of Witchcraft and Wizardry*  
  
~*~ Flashback ~*~  
  
"When put into a new environment, an animal must choose - adapt and survive, or stay exactly the way you are and die."  
  
~*~ End Flashback ~*~  
  
Aya woke the next morning to an island that knew all about the night before. The true story, that is. Only Maaya refused to believe it. Even her little clique just nodded when she went ranting.  
  
She was back to her old make-up-less self in no time, dressing in jeans, a white T-shirt and a huge blue button down shirt of her bro's that she wore as a jacket. She walked over to the Li's where Aki had told her he was. She got there, and discovered everyone else bored. She smiled and went over to poke Aoi. He gave a yelp, "What?"  
  
"We have to make our wands and get our uniforms from Elle's mom."  
  
He pointed to a couple of packages on the table, "The uniforms are there. She made my dress robes for me but she knows you like to do your own clothes."  
  
She turned to Elle, "Thank your mom for me, will you? Now, Aoi and I have to do our wands."  
  
Aoi was brushing the grass off his ass when he was glomped by a very squealy Maaya, who'd dashed in the moment the butler opened the door. The next couple of minutes were sheer torture, running and hopping over everyone and everything. Finally, she caught him in a final glomp and he shot an SOS signal at Aya.  
  
Aya, who was leaning against the house, shook her head, "Shigeki-san, come on inside. I need to tell you something."  
  
Maaya gave her a smug smile, "Yes. Don't worry. Being Aoi's best friend, you can be my bridesmaid."  
  
Aya raised her eyebrow and nodded towards the glass sliding doors. Maaya gave her a mock-sweet smile, "Surely what you have to say to me you can say in front of everyone else."  
  
Aya pushed herself from the wall, and not even smiling, grabbed Maaya by the collar of her Chanel blouse with one hand and slammed her against the wall, so that they were eye to eye. Maaya looked scared, and she had good reason to - her feet weren't even close to touching the ground. Aya glared straight into her eyes, making her whimper, "Do you know why I consider myself more sensible than most other girls? I don't go chasing dreams that weren't mine to begin with. Give it up, he's not gonna be yours. And no, that's not because I want him. I already told you. I would give you my blessing if he would have you. But he won't."  
  
Aoi placed a hand on Aya's shoulder and she dropped Maaya, who ran off. The two of them then left the house in search of materials to make their wands with. Aya knew what wood she was going to use, but what core?  
  
As if to answer her question, a portal suddenly opened and a box dropped from it. Aya picked up to box, which was addressed to her and opened it. There was a book, a crystal phial containing what looked strangely like blood and a letter.  
  
Aya opened the letter, which said:  
  
"Dear Aya, the book is a copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, soft cover Bloomsbury, just released. You'll need to keep track of his life. You'll be helping him in a few years. And as for the crystal phial, it contains the blood of a taboo child, a cross between a human and a demon, from one of the Omega worlds - Saiyuki. I think you know which one. I took it while he was asleep, so no harm done. Use it as a core for both your and your friend Aoi's wands. Take care, Suzaku."  
  
Aoi looked over her shoulder and scanned through it before asking, "You know which one? Which one?"  
  
"Sha Gojyo. Come on. We might as well get started. You know what wood you're going to use?"  
  
"Yeah. I planted a pine cone in the school compound when I was a little kid."  
  
"You mean you planted that pine tree? Cool. We'll drop by my tree first. It's the one you found me in on the first day of school."  
  
They walked towards the school compound, and stopped by the cherry tree. Aya looked up at it and hopped up onto the branch Aoi had found her sitting on. She examined each and every branch and finally decided on a long straight one. She snapped it off and hopped back on the ground.  
  
Putting it in a pouch she had tied round her waist that also contained the crystal phial, she followed Aoi. After he'd picked a branch, they left to return to Aoi's house.  
  
The next day, they were back on a plane on the way to England at eight am. They reached London at 1 pm, London time. They booked into the Ritz Carlton, one single room each, except Sakura and Syaoran who had a double. Suffering from jetlag, they didn't really care for anything other than their bathroom, their bed or the room service.  
  
The next twenty-five days was spent mainly making their wands. Finally, day twenty-six came and Eriol called them to his room. He clapped his hands together, "Good. Everyone got his or her wands? I just want to see if you have to buy one after all. After this, change into your uniforms, the normal ones, and pack, 'cos we're checking out. A representative will be here to bring us to Diagon Alley to get your supplies, and then Hogwarts, where I'll have to create a fireplace. We'll have to leave by twelve, or else we'll pay for another day, so let's get started. Eri, you first, state the material, length and core."  
  
Eri's was maple, eleven inches and a piece of gold said to be one of the amount Nicholas Flamel had created with the Philosopher's Stone, and when she tried it, a shower of gold and black sparks flew out. Rei's was wisteria, ten inches and quicksilver; she tried it and a silver glow filled the room. Aya's was cherry, fourteen inches and blood; a crimson cherry blossom appeared and dissolved as soon as it'd completely materialized. Aoi's was pine, thirteen and a half inches and blood; a blue dragon appeared and roared around the room before flying back into the wand. Maaya's was pine, thirteen inches and cherry blossoms; the chair in front of Eriol collapsed into pieces.  
  
Eriol straightened his glasses and stopped twirling his own wand between his fingers. He pointed it at the fragments, "Reparo!" before turning to Maaya, "Well, Shigeki-san, I see we'll have to get you a wand later, together with my other two colleagues. You may leave now."  
  
They left then and went to pack. Soon after, they were in a chartered minibus with a giant called Hagrid. They stopped at a corner, where Hagrid led them into a small bar called The Leaky Cauldron. Passing through a wall that opened up after Hagrid tapped it with a pink umbrella, they entered Diagon Alley. After buying their stuff, they proceeded back into the bar, where they headed straight for the fireplace.  
  
Eriol closed his eyes and paled slightly for a few seconds before turning back to Hagrid, "It's there Hagrid."  
  
"'K, professor." He turned to the five students and the other two heads of Seishiro High, "Now, ter use the Floo powder, yeh hafta grab a handful an' throw it inter the fire. Then, yeh step in an' shout 'ogwarts s'clear's possible, got me?"  
  
They got him, and soon they were all stepping through a fireplace Eriol had created in the Entrance Hall.  
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione stood amongst the other Gryffindors, and they suddenly met the sight of a large fireplace suddenly appearing in front of them. They watched in shock as Hagrid led three adults and five students around their age out.  
  
Dumbledore, in the front, greeted the blue-haired one, "Ah, Professor Hiiragizawa. You're early I see. Welcome to Hogwarts. Just give me a moment."  
  
He turned to face the students and his voice boomed throughout the corridor, "These are our delegates from Japan, and unlike the other two schools, this is their first time participating in the Triwizard Tournament, which should rightfully now be called the Tetrawizard Tournament...but never mind. Anyway, as I was saying, these students are not going to be studying on their own. Instead, we are assigning each to one of our own students, of the same age and gender, and he or she will sleep in his or her host's dormitory, where you'll find another bed has been squeezed in, take the same lessons as his or her host and theoretically become a part of his or her host's house for the rest of this year. The teachers and I have already decided who shall play host, so will Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Alicia Spinnet, Pansy Parkinson and Penelope Clearwater come down."  
  
Hushed whispers filled the Entrance Hall as they wondered about age. Wasn't the limit seventeen? Surely Dumbledore didn't think they made them stronger a few time zones away?  
  
The five Hogwarts students were as confused. It was announced that Harry was to take Aoi, Hermione, Aya, Alicia, Rei, Pansy, Maaya, and Penelope, Eri. Aya shot Pansy an evil smile while she led Maaya away, "Treat her well."  
  
Pansy understood, and shot her a similar look, "Don't worry. I will."  
  
Aya didn't worry, but Maaya caught this little exchange and started getting scared.  
  
They made their way back, Aya giggling her heart out at Ron trying to say 'Aoi'. Finally, she couldn't take it, "Look Ron. I think it won't be very good for you to keep calling him an exclamation one might use when one is in pain. 'Owie' here doesn't need magic to inflict a lot of damage, and that's saying nothing. So just call him Li and be done with it. He's more used to that anyway. Where we come from, unless asked otherwise, we call people we just meet by their surnames."  
  
Hermione looked slightly alarmed, "Then should I call you Lee too?"  
  
"No thanks. It's a bit too formal for me. I was only in Japan since June. Before that, I've lived all my life in Singapore, which you will find is a highly westernised society."  
  
They watched the delegates from Beauxbatons fly over the forest and after the Durmstrang ship emerged from the lake, they proceeded inwards to the feast that awaited them.  
  
In the Great Hall, Hermione commented on the Beauxbatons students, most of whose eyes were the only body part left visible, "It's not THAT cold. Why didn't they bring cloaks?"  
  
Aya rolled up her sleeves and stuck her arm all the way into her bag, fishing around for something to eat while they waited, "Couldn't've put it better myself. In fact, it's rather warm in here. The house-elves are doing a great job with the fires. I have to use magic at home if I want my room warm enough during the winter."  
  
Hermione scowled, "Humph. You would say that. You don't know what house- elves go through. Imagine - they don't even get PAID."  
  
Ron sighed exasperatedly and Aya replied, "C'mon Hermione. Don't be like that. You're not doing them any good. Admittedly, I've never met one face to face, but I think I know them well enough. They LIKE it this way. They wouldn't have it any other. And don't start about Dobby. There are weird ones in every species. Take me for example, not many can switch between hyper and sober whenever she wants to."  
  
They were looking at her shocked, and Harry asked, "How'd you know about Dobby?"  
  
"You'll be surprised at what else I know. All about Black, Scabbers, the Chamber of Secrets, Voldemort..."  
  
Ron jumped a foot in the air, "Don't say that name!"  
  
Aya shrugged, "Ok then. I'm just making my point that you shouldn't try to keep anything from me. I already know what's going to happen this year, plus I'm just beginning on mind reading."  
  
Now it was Aoi's turn to be surprised, "Mind reading? You're at the university syllabus? But you're only a freshman."  
  
"So? I find that our textbooks make extremely good reads and know them cover to cover."  
  
Hermione was extremely curious, "Do you mind lending them to me sometime? I mean I for one have never heard of a witch or wizard who can mind read."  
  
"That's because it's sorcery. There's a difference, you know. Most eastern magicians practise sorcery, while most western magicians practise wizardry. By far, most consider sorcery more powerful, but it has its weaknesses. Most of the more powerful spells are highly exhausting, and of course there are others that I don't know of."  
  
Hermione's eyes widened, "Can you teach me?"  
  
Aya looked at her for a while and smiled, "Yeah, sure. Your aura seems strong enough."  
  
Ron groaned, "Oh bother. A second Trelawney."  
  
"No. Her auras are fakes. Ours refer to a person's ki. It takes on a certain colour by way of appearance. No, you don't see it, exactly, but you sense it. The ability to sense auras is a trait particular to sorcerers."  
  
The conversation couldn't go on any further as Dumbledore stood to speak. But after that, the food appeared. Aya was positively delighted, "Ooh. Sashimi."  
  
She attacked her food and begun drinking everything she put on her plate. The others decided to ignore her appetite as long as she didn't finish all the food on the table, which seemed highly likely to happen.  
  
The girl who'd laughed during Dumbledore's speech had removed her muffler and come over, "Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?"  
  
Harry pushed it towards her, "Yeah, have it."  
  
"You 'ave finished wiz it?"  
  
"Yeah," Ron said hoarsely, "Yeah, it was excellent."  
  
She took the dish and looked with scorn at Aya who seemed oblivious to the whole situation, still shovelling food onto her plate and into her mouth, "You should not eat so much. You will grow fat."  
  
Aya stopped eating, "Damn. Lost my momentum. S'all your fault. What do you care if I'm fat, anyway?"  
  
She stood up straight and glared down on the girl, looking slightly intimidating. It was then when most realized that they looked slightly similar, putting aside minor physical differences like hair colour, face shape and the fact that Aya was comparably taller despite age.  
  
Both of them gave a very long impression and their hair, one crimson and the other seemingly a cross between silver and gold, fell in a glossy sheet to the girls' waists, as if rebonded.  
  
The girl tossed her chin and stalked off, leaving Aya to glare after her as she sat back down to continue eating. Ron commented, his voice still hoarse, "She's a Veela!"  
  
"Of course she isn't." Hermione said tartly, "Even if her temper's something to take into consideration... but I don't see anyone else gaping at her like an idiot."  
  
They heard their first of Aoi's voice as he snorted, "Yeah right."  
  
They looked around and saw a lot of faces looking at her, mostly lovesick male ones. Ron was slightly shocked, "That's the first time we heard you talk."  
  
"I didn't see the need."  
  
"By the way, I noticed something. You guys don't talk with accents."  
  
"Do you want us to? I can do a great Australian one. Besides, we were trained to talk without an accent, so it's easier for people to understand what we're saying."  
  
"Oh."  
  
After a lengthy explanation by Dumbledore, the Goblet of Fire was brought in, "An Age Line will be drawn around the Goblet to prevent underage students from trying to take part and therefore, Professor Hiiragizawa or one of his colleagues will be putting in the Seishiro students' names in. And don't worry, I have been convinced that they will be up to the job despite their age. Goodnight."  
  
They ran into a touch of trouble with Professor Karkaroff at the door, before proceeding up to the dormitories. In the room Hermione shared with Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown and two other fourth year girls, another bed was set up between Hermione's and Parvati's.  
  
Aya sat down on it and turned to Hermione, "Is there anything here that can support my weight without breaking or moving?"  
  
Her friend looked around, "No, but if you're light enough, we can probably help. What is it?"  
  
Aya laughed and looked at her bag, "My bag's pretty big on the inside. I need to unpack."  
  
They looked her as she removed a long rope that was usually used for rock climbing and tossed it into the bag, holding on to the other end. She passed it to Hermione and turned to Parvati & Lavender, who were trying to look down her bag, "All my bags are really portals to a particular room I created in one of the sub-worlds. That's where I keep all my stuff. And so's one of Aoi's. He couldn't be bothered with luggage either."  
  
She attached a pulley to the bed and went down. Attaching some stuff to the rope, she called for them to pull it up before throwing the rope back down. Then, she climbed back up the rope, thanking her new friends.  
  
When they woke the next morning and got dressed. This time, Aya put on her new uniform for the first time - a white long-sleeved blouse, a navy blue tie, a pair of navy boot-cut pants made out of a material that felt like a mix between denim & some other thing to make it slightly stretchy and strangely warm navy blue silk long-sleeved robes. The robes hardly differed from the Hogwarts robes (I'm referring mainly to what I see in the movie, the HP figurines and the covers of the four HP books. The fifth is coming out today and I'm going to collect my reserved copy later). The bodice fit nicely and the bottom flared out, leaving lots of room for movement. The collar was V-shaped, giving it a smart look, showing the top of the tie and the collar of her blouse like sweaters do. Seeing no apparent ruling about shoes, she pulled on a pair of white ankle socks and some black ankle boots with one-inch heels.  
  
On the stairs, Aya asked Hermione, "When's the welcome feast gonna be? I heard my heads mention it a couple times."  
  
"The thirtieth."  
  
They met the guys in the common room and proceeded to their first lesson. Ron tried warning them, "I suggest you guys try not to get blacklisted by Snape. He's HORRIBLE. Although he'll probably discriminate you just because you're hanging with us..."  
  
The dungeons felt damp and dark, which is what they were, anyway. That day in Potions, they were pairing up. Naturally, Aya was with Hermione and Aoi was with Harry, but poor Ron was stuck with Neville. Aya was observing Snape's every move with what seemed like suspicion. Ron whispered over to Harry, "I think I got the point in a bit to far."  
  
Aya smiled at this but kept silent. She'd heard Snape was highly biased towards the Slytherins and against the Gryffindors. Let's see if it applied to the exchange students too...  
  
Snape tapped the blackboard with his wand and ingredients & instructions appeared. Aya and Hermione set forth on their task, but to their great misfortune, added to the big mistake they made by sitting by the aisle, Neville had set a flask rolling off the table and was saved only when Aya dove after it, landing on her back smack in the middle of the aisle, staring sheepishly up at the Potions master.  
  
She got up and brushed the immense amount of dust off her robes, "Sorry, professor."  
  
"Ten points from Gryffindor, Longbottom, for that ardent display of clumsiness and for making a guest clean up your mess." He then looked at Aya who was beating dust off her skirt, and managed to catch a glimpse of her shoes, "Miss LEE, is it? I hear that technically, you are something of a Hogwarts student now, am I not right?"  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
"Then why, if I may, are you wearing heels? That is not part of the standard uniform, the last time I checked, or have they made some changes during your arrival that I was not aware of? Ten more point fro-"  
  
Aya interrupted, standing up straight and looking the professor in the eye, a gesture which a few were shocked at, "Excuse me sir, I don't mean to be overly rude, but though technically, in most ways, I AM somewhat a Hogwarts student for the rest of the year, I still wear the Seishiro uniform. When we received it, we were not told what shoes we could or could not wear, and therefore, I slipped on the first pair I could grab this morning. Therefore, as only the HOGWARTS uniform has rules against heels and the SEISHIRO uniform doesn't, technically, you can't punish me for that. Besides, our heads have always encouraged creativity in the students."  
  
Snape, angry at having been proved wrong by a student, shot her a look of loathing that he normally reserved for Harry, "Ten points from Gryffindor for blatant disrespect. I see that you're even more like Potter than his own son. Have you considered a link?"  
  
He swept off as Aya sat back down. Gryffindors shot her looks of admiration; they'd never have dared to talk to Snape like that. Snape swept round the classroom once more, and when he saw Hermione and Aya's potion, he sneered, "Did I not say that it should be opaque by now? Your fire is too small and at this speed, you'll never pass your OWLs due to lack of time. Evanesco!"  
  
Little did he know, Aya was smarter than she looked, and her hands were in her pockets, fiddling with those little red marbles of hers that contained items or spells. When the spell hit the potion, it didn't vanish, but bubbled slightly where the spell hit it and turned opaque. Aya feigned innocent surprise, "Hey, thanks professor. I think you just did the job for us."  
  
Snape, confused, glared at her once more before sweeping off to inspect Pansy and Maaya's potion, "Very nice. I see your Japanese teachers aren't COMPLETELY useless."  
  
Aya's eyes narrowed as she watched the potion begin to boil. She stiffened, feeling highly offended at this remark; she'd grown quite fond of her teachers. Suddenly, the fire grew to twice its size and Hermione leapt back in shock. Aya scowled, "Sorry." and waved her hand at it, making it disappear. Sure enough, Snape, casting a suspicious look in their direction, said, "Class, pour the potion into a flask and hand it in for grading. I want a one foot essay on common healing herbs."  
  
Outside in the corridor, Maaya stopped Aya and in a mocking tone, said, "Your aura flared. I KNOW you did a piece of magic. If I tell Snape, you'll be in trouble. I don't think he likes you much anymore. Well, at least I wasn't stupid enough to show my feet to the world. You're not the only one who can wear cool shoes."  
  
She lifted her skirt slightly to show off a pair of four-inch stilettos before stalking off with Pansy, both cackling. Aya looked surprisingly calm after that. She closed her eyes and opened them again when she was sure they were out of earshot, even if she yelled, giving the slightest smirk, "Do you know why I NEVER wear stilettos?" she paused, "They break."  
  
There was an evil grin all over her face, and she raised her wand. Her sleeve swept down as if she was throwing something round the corner Maaya and Pansy had walked, bellowing, "Diffindo!"  
  
True enough, a bolt of light shot round the corner and there was a shriek. She grinned at her friends who were looking delighted and on the verge of laughter as they ran to have a look. They had to go up into the Entrance Hall before they found Maaya. She was sprawled all over the floor, looking furious. Her bag had split open and everything was on the floor, and sure enough, the heels of both her expensive looking shoes were clean cut diagonally, although the cut on the left shoe was slightly higher than that on the right, as if something had slashed through the left and couldn't stop before it got through the right.  
  
Aya looked at her with and innocently surprised look on her face, "My, my, I was just telling the others - stilettos tend to be rather, how do you say this? FRAGILE."  
  
Maaya glared at her, shaking with fury, and tried to stand, but she lost her balance, and tried to take advantage of the opportunity and fall forwards onto Aoi, but missed, given that he saw this and stepped inconspicuously backwards. She sat on the floor and tore off her shoes before flinging them in the general direction of Aya's head, though she was shaking so much they missed by at least half a foot. She got up and pointed her shaking finger at Aya, "YOU! YOU DID THAT! YOU!"  
  
Aya gave her a dose of the puppy eyes crossed with the Almighty Glint of Evilness, "I what? I was standing in the same spot where you left me until I heard your scream. I knew it was you. By now, I've come to recognize the pitch. I just followed your aura and found you here."  
  
"I KNOW IT'S YOU! YOU WAIT! I'LL GET YOU!"  
  
"Get me how?" Aya looked over her shoulder at the shoes lying some distance behind her, "I don't suppose you can attack me with shoes, seeing that you've already thrown away both of yours. Maybe you should want to get some more? I'll wait here if you want."  
  
The teachers had by now heard the commotion and tore through the crowd. Syaoran gave the two of them piercing looks, and Aya, remembering something, cleared her face of all emotion and cleared her mind. Maaya began ranting again, "SENSEI! SHE'D CURSED ME! EXPEL HER! SHE MADE ME FALL!"  
  
Syaoran let her go on and held up a hand, silencing her, "Shigeki, if you're not going to tell me what happened calmly and logically, I suppose I'll ask Aya first. Aya, what happened?"  
  
"After Potions, Shigeki was showing off her shoes and went off cackling. I didn't want to have to harm her and gain a bad reputation on my first day here and stayed there a while to calm down. Hermione, Harry, Ron, Aoi and I were about to head to the next lesson, Transfiguration, and we heard a scream. I recognized it to be Shigeki's and followed her aura here. Then she began accusing me of breaking her four-inch stilettos, which you can see behind me," she gestured to the miserable looking shoes, "and she threw them at me. I merely retaliated with words, denying what I hadn't done."  
  
He turned to Shigeki, who was still shaking, so Syaoran had no choice but to do what Aya had successfully avoided him using on herself - mind reading. All he saw was Pansy and Maaya walking away cackling, then Maaya falling, and then Maaya shouting at Aya. He scowled and turned to the considerably taller Dumbledore, "May I use your office, professor?"  
  
"You're more than welcome."  
  
"Thank you. Shigeki, a word please. And bring your things."  
  
Maaya stared shocked at Syaoran, furious. As she picked her things up, she glared at Aya, "I'll be Champion. You'll see."  
  
The crowd FINALLY dispersed, and Professor McGonagall, who was on her way to the lesson herself, spoke to the five, "Well, now that that's over, will you please proceed to my class. I'm warning you that if you're later than me, I'll take ten points apiece."  
  
She began walking quickly away and they looked to each other, before running past her and towards their classroom.  
  
After the day was over, they were back in the common room; Ron & Harry were telling everyone about the day's events. After Fred and George had wrung her hand and everyone was gone, Ron realized something, "Y'know, Aya and that girl sort of remind me of Harry and Malfoy."  
  
They laughed their way up the stairs and said goodnight.  
  
Yayz! Just finished reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for the second time even though I just got it three days ago. R+R! 


End file.
